Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Living in NYC and Beyond

What’s the Deal With Organic American Spirit Cigarettes?

About two years ago, I started spending a good amount of time at these underground, vaguely illegal dance parties. Despite the fact that the bouncers diligently enforce an over-21 door, nobody ever cares if you smoke inside. I’m guessing because they don’t want people congregating outside the party door and blowing their cover.

I can pretty much deal with the fact that when I get home, my hair and clothes reek of cigarette smoke. That’s the price I pay for getting to dance all night and drink $4 beers. And in a warehouse, it’s not so bad, with high ceilings that lets the smoke to dissipate.

But the worst are the people who drunkenly smoke on the dance floor, waving their cigarettes around, blowing smoke in your face and burning you with the orange glowing ember of their poisonous little toy. Then they get self-righteous about it when you point out that your sweater has a cigarette shaped hole in it now, thanks to them.

At this point, I would honestly prefer that you smoke a crack pipe on the dance floor. If you blew lines of coke on the table next to me, I would turn away, because it really has nothing to do with me. But when you light up a cigarette, you have to understand that you have just become everyone around you’s problem. The reason why they are glaring at you and covering their mouth is because you’ve given them no choice but to be a part of your decision. You can say, “It’s none of your business,” but really, it is, the way a belligerently drunk person is everyone’s business.

I’m bored with the people congregated outside a bar near my apartment, that I have to walk through a haze every time I go by. And the people who smoke in the park when I’m trying to get a much-needed taste of fresh air. The people who reek so badly, they leave a trail of stale smoke in the elevator behind them. And the people who smoke as they walk down the sidewalk. Just hold up a middle finger to everyone behind you, please.

Smoking is over. It’s a tattered remnant of an earlier era. In trying to think of an appropriate analogy that captures the role smoking plays in popular culture at this moment, the best I can come up with is if Self Mutilation and Bad Hygiene fell in love and borrowed sperm from Hoarding, their baby would probably look like smoking. It’s an incomprehensible bad habit that people who don’t have their shit together do that makes everyone around them annoyed. It smells bad. It makes your apartment repulsive. It makes you a chore to kiss. And it has increasingly become correlated with lower income and lower levels of education. Only freshman college students think it’s cool. Only French and Italian people think it’s normal. And it’s only admirable for the rare badass souls over 75 who don’t give a shit, like wealthy former socialites and fishermen.

What really sucks is that I have friends–all party people–who smoke. In every other way, they are authentic, smart, and kind people. They just do this one thing that makes me not want to be around them. I just awkwardly pretend I don’t see it and wander away, because I’m sure they know it sucks. (Though I did lecture one dear friend–hard–who decided to start smoking recently. Then I let it go and we shall never speak of it again.) It’s sort of like having a friend who has terrible taste in men. You love them anyway, but it’s a struggle to keep your mouth shut. At least with your friend who is dating the misogynist pig, you don’t come away from hanging out with them reeking of bad choices, one step closer to getting lung cancer.

And I’ve noticed something: people who live in Brooklyn and who like the idea of buying organic, locally-made artisan food, like smoking American Spirit cigarettes. This confused me, so I decided to do some investigating.

Health Nuts Love American Spirits

It’s not just people I know in the scene that smoke American Spirit, which come packaged in colors reminiscent of a kid-friendly dime store from the 50s, with an American Indian smoking a pipe on the front. It’s been spotted clutched in the manicured paws of such It Girls as Chloe Sevigny, Alexa Chung, Alyssa Milano, Kate Hudson, and Kirstin Dunst. Katherine Heigl, from what I can tell, is an especially heavy and ardent smoker of the Spirit. Gwyneth Paltrow, lover of all things farcically healthy and organic and natural and overpriced, admitted to Harper’s Bazaar that she smokes once a week, and her cigarette of choice is American Spirit.

American Spirit used to set up an air conditioned tent and hand out free packs at Coachella, before giving out free cigarettes was banned. A 1997 report described American Spirit smokers as artists or activists, who read “hippie and intelligent/successful” magazines like the New Yorker or The Atlantic, and were likely to “hang out in Greenwich Village at a non-trendy bar” or “have friends over for dinner and drink microbrews.” That was in 1997, so replace Greenwich with Williamsburg, and you get the point. It’s telling that my boyfriend, who lives in Williamsburg, gets American Spirit direct mail once or twice a year. I, who have lived in Gramercy for three years, have never received a mailing.

A Chicago Tribune article from the same year said that health food stores were carrying American Spirit. A shop owner on San Francisco’s Haight Street said he has a customer who no longer spit up blood after switching to American Spirit. Heartwarming.

Of course, that was back in the 90s, but it still holds true. A vegan blogger wrote this past December, “I see how strange it is that I espouse a healthy vegan lifestyle yet I smoke cigarettes. I tell myself that I’m AT LEAST smoking American Spirits so I’m not inhaling as many chemicals (ha), but in truth, I know what I’m doing is hurting me in the long run. And in the short run.”

American Spirit packs were included in the “hipster traps” set around Brooklyn a few years back. And as one store clerk put it:

People who buy American Spirits fall into one of two categories: One, the kind of people who think that because American Spirits are, and I quote, “100% additive free natural tobacco”, that it means that it’s better than the “trash” those other simpletons buy (yes, a regular of mine did use the word “trash” to describe other brands). Two, the kind of people who think that because American Spirit is “natural”, and it has a pipe-smoking American Indian as a mascot, it’s, like, totally less destructive on the environment, man! American Spirit cares about the earth, and poor small-time tobacco farmers!

When you get this many people who love craft brews and pickling smoking cigarettes, you end up getting reviews like this:

“The taste is unprecedented. The flavor is loudly bold for a light cigarette, but I see that as a plus because they do maintain a light yet balanced drag. One of my favorite things is how when I smoke these, I feel the urge to smoke less, not just because they’re American Spirits, a cigarette done right, but I even crave these less … because they leave you not only more satisfied, but also, for some unexplainable reason, offer a smoker a little bit more control over one’s habit.”

It’s like a combination of a review of a craft brew and quinoa.

And I’m not sure what this tells you, dear reader, but I had to include this gem for entertainment value: “Oh my Buddha! These cancer sticks give me the case of the runs. because every time i smoke one of the american spirits i just flat out crap my pantie loafers.”

What pantie loafers are, I have no idea. I think that reviewer might just be a crackhead.

Ben & Jerry’s for Smokers

Why this slavish, if a bit conflicted, devotion? Well, anyone who smokes them will point to the fact that American Spirit cigarettes are free of the long list of disgusting additives present in conventional cigarette brands. “I feel better about smoking Spirits as I’m not inhaling rat poison and carpet glue and all the other additive crap in most cigs,” one reviewer says. And because they don’t have all those additives, they are also vegan. (Other brands use additives made from animal products.) Finally, they take longer to smoke, which, according to my friends, can be a positive or negative.

American Spirit very deliberately ticks many other conscious consumer boxes. They have two organic versions: full-bodied and mellow, which leads many uninformed consumers to delude themselves into thinking they are safer. (American Spirit has been so good at implying health, that expectant mothers turn to them instead of quitting.) They refuse to do animal testing. They donate money to causes like restoring the Sante Fe River in New Mexico and Keep America Beautiful. They’ve teemed up with Terracycle to allow consumers to send in cigarette butts for recycling. (I’m intensely curious to know if anyone has sent in their butts. Probably not, since you get just $1 for every 1,000 butts you send in.) They extend benefits to their employees’ same-sex domestic partners. And while they are not actually affiliated with Indians, they like to say that the cigarettes are, “based on our belief in the traditional American Indian usage of tobacco—in moderation and in its natural state.”

Like organic food, organic tobacco is a growth market where consumers are willing to pay a premium, about twice as much for the tobacco itself. (Though it doesn’t seem like twice as much, because in NYC and New York State taxes make up the bulk of the price.) As of 2008, Santa Fe was seeing its sales grow by more than 10 percent each year.” There’s no reason to think that has changed.

This is all planned, of course. Since 1985, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, American Spirit’s parent company, has advertised in publications like Mother Earth News and Whole Earth Review and still advertises in liberal publications such as Mother Jonesand The Nation as well as more mainstream magazines like Elle, Lucky and Marie Claire. In their early ads, American Spirit was first touted as the cigarette for people who “smoke out of choice rather than habit.” Though at this stage, who would smoke out of choice, especially if they are the kind of person who likes their shampoo paraben free?

It seems that American Spirit is for those who smoke out of habit, but find it easier to justify the habit rather than actually just quit.

The Bad News

There are a few tar stains on Natural American Spirit’s otherwise pristine reputation. For one, it’s no longer a scrappy, independently owned company. It is owned by R.J. Reynolds, the world’s second largest tobacco company behind Philip Morris, and owner of Camel, Winston, Salem, Kool, Pall Mall and other very un-cool and un-indie brands associated more with West Virginia than San Francisco.

There’s also the problem of cigarette butts. They look compostable, but all of them have non-biodegradeable filters inside, which get washed out to sea where marine life eats and chokes on them. Cigarette butts account for one quarter or more of litter, and are the most common debris collected from beaches and inland waterways during Ocean Conservancy’s annual International Coastal Cleanup. A recent study showed that cigarette waste is toxic enough with heavy metals to be labelled by city and state agents as “toxic waste.” I wonder if American Spirit smokers are more likely than other smokers to toss their butts out in an approved receptacle?

And there’s the whole cancer aspect.

You can still get cancer from organic tobacco. It’s not the additives, though those don’t help, but the smoke itself from the combustion of the tobacco leaf that you inhale into your lungs. When smoking an organic American Spirit, you will inhale carbon monoxide, particulate matter, carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and toxic nitrosamines. In Germany, where they actually regulate stuff that causes cancer, ads for “organic” cigarettes have been banned because of fears that they they mislead consumers into thinking they’re a healthier product. Which they do.

Here in the U.S., ads for organic cigarettes aren’t banned, but after a 1997 lawsuit, American Spirit was forced to put a disclaimer on its site and ads that says, “Organic tobacco does not mean a safer cigarette.” And, “No additives in our tobacco does not mean a safer cigarette.” But if you’re looking to get jittery, American Spirit will do nicely. A study showed that after two minutes of smoking unfiltered, additive-free American Spirit cigarette plasma nicotine levels were significantly higher than when study participants smoked regular cigarettes. The high nicotine levels lasted longest with the American Spirit cigarette. So yes, they are just as addictive, if not more.

American Spirit is also “fire safe,” as mandated by New York law, which means the paper has chemical rings to prevent it from lighting your couch on fire. You are breathing in that chemical. You can avoid this by rolling your own cigarettes with American Spirit tobacco, though.

Finally, you’re smoking American Spirit cancels most of the good you do by walking, using public transportation and riding your fixie instead of driving an SUV. When you exhale, you breathe out 7,000 chemicals into the environment, including at least 69 that cause cancer. The average cigarette emits about 14 milligrams of fine particulate matter, tiny little fragments that can lodge in your lungs and those of people around you and cause health problems. Yes, I can still smell you. And you do smell stronger than the municipal bus rolling by. Much stronger.

So, Should You Smoke American Spirit?

I suppose, if you have lost hope of ever quitting smoking, American Spirit is a better alternative. They don’t have the additives, which is true. And smoking domestically-grown organic tobacco means few pesticides and deforestation. If you’re disposing of your butts properly or recycling them, props. And buying from a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds isn’t much different than buying food from an Hain Celestial, which is owned by Kraft. So I won’t judge you for that.

But I must say this: Cigarettes are really unpleasant to everyone except the person who is smoking. It’s sort of like those guys who walk down the street playing music from their iPhone at full blast, but if that music could give you cancer. If you blow smoke in my face, light up on the dance floor next to me and then wave your cig around to the music, burn me, or leave your smoke lingering behind you as you walk down the sidewalk in front of me, I don’t care if it’s organic American Spirit or Marlboro Delicious Pesticide-Flavored Cancer Stick. I will still feel nauseous and think, “I wish they would quit. I really wish they would quit.”

Before you comment: If you want to add something constructive to the conversation, please, go ahead! If you want to call me or other commenters names, your comment will be immediately deleted. If your comment has been immediately deleted, congratulations, you are officially a troll.

Eh, I wish people would stop making excuses and just quit smoking. The evidence is clear that smoking negatively affects health. It’s hard for me to grasp that people can believe that smoking *this* brand is healthy or better. I think the key thing here is marketing, something that R.J. Reynolds (their parent company) has truly perfected.

Ava1

And many of these folks will look like hell in a few years when the smoker’s lines, wrinkles and skin damage nest on their complexions.

jimmy

People should stop making excuses and stop eating the crap packaged cancer causing food, that is all the norm here in the US. Evidence is clear that sugar is rocket fuel for cancer, not a few smokes a day.

kelliefromtexas

Totally random interjection, to which I will never see the responses unless I bookmark this page right now: there was this big fat study indicating that cigarette smokers, while they get all kinds of other health issues, do not tend to get Chrohns/colitis. The tobaco plant is from the night shade group of plants, similar to tomatoes, peppers, potatoes. These plants are high alkaloid species and reduce inflammation. This group out of Arizona, I think, started playing with a way to process tobacco in such a way that all the byproduct chemicals do not occur…but, of course, the gov is never going to let this happen. They then went and made a small sublingual mint composed of Anatabine (a relative of nicotine) and ran a study on it as a smoking cessation supplement. Those taking it replied with “…I’m still smoking, but hey, my arthritis, diabetes, psoriosis, etc is improving like crazy. The level of Anatabine you get in this stuff is unattainable by eating plants alone. No joke though, my parents and sister have been on it a couple of years and me, one year. My sister was covered in psoriosis that big pharmacy couldn’t touch. My dad couldn’t lift his arms overhead due to inflsmmed parts in his spine. I had a small bloody mass (benign and non threatening, but not something you want to see) on my kidney. All of us have had our stuff darn near vanished. They’re doing studies where people are going off of insulin with this. MS patients are seeing improvement as well as dementia patients. Basically, if you break an ankle at 20, if you live long enough you will get dementia bc of the fire of inflammation that is started in your body. Inflammation is the cause of most everything (a long with over growth of candida), retarding celles and preventing healthy cells from doing what they’re supposed to, regenerate. My knees have been jacked since I was twelve and swell up like grapefruits, until I started this stuff. Painful sex due to cervix (same partner for many years…not an std thing) was resolved with this (although I wouldn’t tell my dad this…awkward). I take any chance I have to talk about this stuff bc its natural and I’ve seen it work for people. It’s called ANATABLOC and sold by their site or gnc. I have zero affiliation with them…I work for an oil and gas company in Houston and just am really against big pharma.

faceoff508

Is that stuff in natural tobacco, like American Spirits?

clairekellerman

it says in the story:
…”smoking American Spirit cancels most of the good you do by walking, using public transportation and riding your fixie instead of driving an SUV. When you exhale, you breathe out 7,000 chemicals into the environment, including at least 69 that cause cancer. The average cigarette emits about 14 milligrams of fine particulate matter, tiny little fragments that can lodge in your lungs and those of people around you and cause health problems. Yes, I can still smell you. And yes, you still smell crappy.

So, Should You Smoke American Spirit?

I suppose, if you have lost hope of ever quitting smoking, American Spirit is a better alternative. They don’t have the additives, which is true. And smoking domestically-grown organic tobacco means few pesticides and deforestation. If you’re disposing of your butts properly or recycling them, props. And buying from a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds isn’t much different than buying food from an Hain Celestial, which is owned by Kraft….”

Daniel Golightly

This and some studies of shown that as much as 90% of the cancers caused by smoking age related to radiation from the processing. that isn’t allowed to be certified organic. So…. A percentage less chance of getting cancer and only some of the types associated with smoking…. hmmmm.

David Schatz

Phosphorus fertilizer used to grow conventional tobacco becomes radioactive when burned. Everyone knows breathing smoke is bad for you, organic smoke is just less bad.

faceoff508

Smoking sucks: yes. But the quote mentioned about American Spirits giving you more control over the habit is true. American Spirits helped me quit. And if I want to smoke socially, I can, without getting addicted again. That’s just me though. Everyone is different. And at the end of the day, a cigarette is a cigarette.

niles

Social smoking is a myth. If you don’t cut that shit or you’ll be right back where you were.

Jack

Not true. I’ve never been addicted, bought my own pack, etc. I’ve only ever smoked socially, I’ve bought my friends packs but other than that I only smoke at a party

harry

Bullshit. I know lots of social smokers.

Robert

‘Social smoking is a myth.’
Where do you get this info? My wife and one of my sisters have been social smokers for over 30 years. They’ll smoke when having wine or cocktails with friends, and then go 3 months w/o looking at another cigarette. I actually wish I could limit my smoking to just social situations, if only for the cost savings!

servantoftruth

Smoking in every single case makes the person a smoker and someone who is willingly, purposefully shortening their lives and the lives of those around them. They are drug addicts and self deluded.

boBisa

It’s not a myth. I went from being a 4 cig a day smoker to just a social smoker to a never at all smoker. I’m not sure if my seizure medications had any effect (they severely affected my appetite) but I haven’t the slightest desire to smoke cigarettes, not even when people around me offer.

4 cigs a day?
…
Only 4? You’re lucky, dude. You could quit easily because you didn’t smoke very much.
Meanwhile i’m over here smoking a pack of american spirits a day + cigarillos.

boBisa

Well No not luck at all, actually. I am now epileptic, discovered in early college so…. Eff off. But hey, at least I quit smoking! Maybe someday you’ll be so “lucky” too. Prick.

HeartlesS

Wow. Sounds like you need to start smoking again. Lol. WeActOnImpulse wasn’t being an asshole in any way. If anything, they’re envious. So you just bit somebody’s head off for a calm, cool headed, regular statement with no malice intended. Seriously uncalled for.

I’m a smoker. And while I know it’s bad for me, my nerves are so bad that I’ve actually been instructed not to quit right now, because I’d probably kill someone.

Btw, your article is offensive as fuck.. I get where you’re coming from, but you could’ve done this article in a much less condescending manner.

Tammy

How long were u a smoker before the American spirit’s helped u when off?

SpiritSmoquiter

IF YOU CANT ADRESS DONT CRITICIZE Inhalation of toxic monoxide n other chemicals SUCKs whether its from smoking , Frac sanding dust pollution or any of the challenges we have .to deal with. I have been an IN an OUT SMoker for a long time. I smoke about 1 to 3 cigz each day or other day. it really depends on a whole bunch of stuff that would require a budget to research on.. AmeriSpirit are really rtrying to responsibly allow smokers to minimize their ecological and social footprint in our communities. given i mostly dont finish an entire cigarette stick and the company sent me a little “roach holder and cig -butt disposer. i can “save my partial cigarette without exposing the strong roach odor and also consciously dispose the finished cigarette but while driving without having to keep butts in the car or wors toss it out the window!! how about that for a step towards responsible smoking!!! if i have the time i go for the Roll your Own by which i can be roll the amount i need for the moment with little to no waste!!! i still wish i wasnt a tobacco smokker but i think i can manage the challenge in a more responsible way where i can. no judging anyone or any smoker at whatever level you are but i think American Spirit is the smoke for a respositive thinker, if only it was more affordable so other well wishers could switch or other brandmakers can be as progressive..i believe if you aren’t part of the solution then you most likely are part of the problem.

servantoftruth

If you smoke at all then you are still addicted. You are still a smoker. You are still a drug addict. The worst deception is self deception.

Bob666

#Smokeweedeveryday

chris p

That’s like saying if a person walks to get from point A to point B, then they are addicted to walking. Or if you sleep, you must be addicted to sleeping. What you say makes no sense!

Dave

chumps

Me

Fuck you

Yeah I said it

Automobiles kill more people each year then smoking. So should we stop driving and leave it to all the badasses who think it punk rock to drive to work? To school? To the store? Yes we all know smoking is bad and I agree that you should let those people know how you feel but in my opinion, shut up and mind your business.

Trevor

American Spirit is good for smoking with hash.

Alaska

Ha!!!!

Devin

Hash is also good for smoking with, hash. And hash.
I smoke cigs constantly, the brand is irrelevant. I wanted a review like the one I saw this bitch make fun of. In a way, she did convey what I wanted to hear, amidst her rich bitch feminist, oppressive opinions.

gigi

to all of u smokers out there fu@k u.
im tired of breathing you disgusting
shit!

HighOnRice

There are a lot of disgusting things in the air. This is why I hate that Americans love SUVs and big trucks.

Jonah Jay

And I’m tired of your fascism.

smoker17

Fuq you too bitch. This is a free country, and I can smoke where I please. I’m tired of whining bitches like you thinking that your comfort is all that matters. Nobody gives a shit about how you feel. So get over yourself and shut up!

Hestia Tobacco

Or why not just smoke independent and totally natural Hestia Tobacco! We don’t use fire safe paper! We are JUST totally natural tobacco!!

Cigarette butts, I smoke American spirit rollies, filterless. If I smoke American spirits, and feel the urge to smoke less because A. The cigarette is more satisfying and B. The lack of addictive additives, I’m still inhaling less tobacco in general the some one who smokes a pack of camels. I haven’t bought tobacco of any kind in over a year, not because I quit, just haven’t felt like it, but I have been around smokers all of my life, I know first hand that American spirits are better for me not for fashion but from experience. If you don’t like smokers that’s fine, but don’t attack our rights you fascist, if you want to be in a smoke free environment then go to any legal establishment, don’t try to bring “the man” to an under ground party where you apparently don’t belong in the first place. If you can’t stand the smoke get out of the warehouse.

AldenWicker

“It’s my right to give you cancer if I want to! It’s right there in the constitut–oh wait. Well, I am a rebel! Like the Marlborough man in the Wild Wild West! Amurica!”

Spirit in WV

If WV is the home of ignorance in America, you should move here……Ms Wicker

https://flic.kr/ps/n14No K Trout

I don’t trust people that have a knee-jerk reaction to making fun of people because they disagree with their opinions or because they hail from a certain state…Now that I think of it, those that like to “pay for getting to dance for eight hours” are pretty questionable (and childish) as well.

Opinion420

Don’t be around smokers. Lol. I hate people like you who have this attitude of “UH. I OWN the AIR and ENVIRONMENT around ME”. News Flash: you don’t. You might as well complain to anyone who drives a car about the carbon monoxide coming out of their tailpipes. (She’ll probably run off to get an electric-without considering that the majority of the electric she uses comes from fossil fuels).

waraji

A non-smoker owns the air around them as much as a smoker.
Try smoking sometime without having a place to blow the smoke into.

tommyz44

Ive had many rude disrespectfull people blow it right in my face. By this logic i can piss on them right? i can cough in their face? i can spit into the wind in their direction?

waraji

I agree with you, by the way. My comment is pro non-smoker. ( “a non-smoker owns the air around them as much . . .”)
…and I think that opinion420 is ridiculous in comparing exhaled tobacco smoke to car exhaust.

Opinion420

That would be because you are a retarded dumbass who is not empirically aware of the shit that comes out of your mouth. Get educated fool.

Greg Petliski

Why is that ridiculous? We accept the chemicals that come out of our cars, but not the ones that come out of our lungs?

servantoftruth

Yes, that is right. One gets you somewhere. The other kills. My brother can’t walk 100 feet without stopping and resting.

Greg Petliski

Well, youre brother is genetically weak and should perish. I’ve hiked up mountains after smoking a cigarette.

servantoftruth

You’re young. Keep doing it and I’ll see you in 30 years. Or maybe I won’t.

Robert

Is maybe your brother a tad overweight? My guess would be yes. I’m. 54 yrs old, bike 26 miles twice a week, not mention ski golf swim hike and kayak. Smomer or not, people who get lazy will be unhealthy

rob

People really think they own air WOW!!!! ROFL after I quit I dont have the slightest problem with smoke around. People are just to whiny these days.

dillpickle

holy shit this servantoftruth bitch is a bitch lol she never quits its not her fault that her brother is in bad shape. just because she is upset doesn’t mean she can infringe on other peoples rights. a bad experience sucks but don’t blame the world for your anger. im sorry for your brother and if you need some one to talk to im here but don’t be an ass please.

Opinion420

Why don’t you spit in someones face and find out what happens? Are you really this retarded? Lol.

Opinion420

Have you seen pictures of lungs of people from the city/outside the city? The pollution causes black tar streaking far worse than your occasional outside nicotine exposure. Look up the outside PPM index of your average pollution where you live, judging by your name you live in a shithole you uneducated piece of manure. Get the f*ck off your high horse, get with reality. You’re probably gonna be one of those who dies from lung cancer without ever having smoked a cigarette. xD

jb

NO you do not OWN the Air!
IF you think you do how about not using carcinogenic fuels for your home & car? Or about the dry cleaning or cleaning chemicals in your home? Paint fumes? Oh & the one I really hate in the air……..Dryer Sheets! Phffff…….! Oh & what about all the nasty waste of the crappy fast/chain food you eat/or dispose of?

warji, you are an stupid ass! Notice I did not say ignorant? Look it up, there is a huge difference!

servantoftruth

Smokers always compare apples and oranges. Its their way of feeling better about their slow and certain suicide.

servantoftruth

They own more of it because they enjoy it more. They’re not trying to destroy it.

ImapoopheaD

Anti conformity = conformity to anti conformity. Please stfu, “fag”.

Foolofatook

P.s. In memory of Bill Hicks, while he was on tour in some god forsaken place, while he was breaking from the sufferings of mankind and enjoying a smoke, a women pulled him aside and asked something in obvious disgust as to how he could do what he is doing (smoking) into which he replied, as he gazed out into the horizon and caught a dirty glimpse of a power plant of some kind and said something along the lines of, “your worried about what I’m doing when THATS going on?!” Ok, thanks.

Greg Petliski

Any smokers here tonight? (cheers and applause). Listen to em. Bunch of whiney, no good, self righteous pricks. Id quit smoking if I didnt think Id become one of them.

dillpickle

exactly! the world is f….d up enough without you worrying about the individual person. what about the big people that shape the world?.!1!

duh

Marlboro

Dino

Yea righto because people are just dropping like flies from second hand smoke pfft. Grow up

dillpickle

this person speaks the truth! my dads a smoker and im around him a lot im not dead am I. prove your non-fact bullshit. im gonna do what I PLEASSE MOTHER F…..S!!!

Robert

In the news – The official “Marlboro Man” just died on Thurs 1/15/15. He was 85 (yes, that’s EIGHTY FIVE) and a life long smoker. 85 – it’s really a shame smoker’s lives have to be cut so short (sarc). RIP Mr Winfield. You da man!
He, and many of us smokers, will probably outlive many of you self-righteous whiney d bags! It’s really great that the non-smokers will live to 100! Enjoy your diapers and pureed peas through a straw. Personally, having worked in “old age” homes for 3 years, I’m thinking 85 is spot on for a good time to go……and live life to it’s fullest along the way!!

yes sir I will die young before I am incapable to help myself live a difficult life of spending all day cleaning my own shit and piss and eating baby food through a straw. fuck these people that want to tell us what to do, or make babies with them and make the babies think for themselves and logically. nobody can tell me that I cant do something I want to do. if I listened to them, I would not be alive.

LightSmoker78

Kudos! WELL SAID! I am so tired of explaining to people that after switching, I went from 2 PACKS a day of Newports (ugh) and Marlboros to only buying 1 PACK A WEEK of my american spirits. I hate the fact that I love to smoke a cig once or twice a day, but I HATE even more when assholes (especially ex-smokers with no empathy for those of us who have not jumped on the ‘I hate all smokers’ bandwagon) act like they are so much better than me…..Listen I have quit so many things that are equally as bad as cigarettes (some even worse) that I am proud to have such control over the ONE VICE that I have left, As for you non-smokers who try to tell me what to do? I have as much attention and respect for these people as I do for douche bags who act like I’m evil for eating meat, cheese ect. NONE. Keep talking…..the carbon-dioxide you [author of the article] exhale while bitching are keeping trees alive! BTW….the more you all complain, the more it makes us want a cigarette. ASK us to share our cigs with you, and you won’t have ANY smokers around you! lol,
San Judas is right….if you don’t like smokers, stay away from us. WE don’t want to be around militant non-smokers.

dillpickle

I think your my new best friend

Greg Petliski

I roll my own Spirits too, and I roll em pretty small, I’d guess half the tobacco of a filtered cigarette. So the 4-6 cigs I smoke a day comes out to maybe 2-3 filter cigs. Not great, but Im with that amount.

servantoftruth

Congratulations I guess. But you’re still a drug addict.

Shane Lewandoski

You seek truth but you judge like you cannot control yourself.

I love to smoke!

You are hilarious! Really, I know you must be joking, or have really terrible English. However, I do truly enjoy your way of getting reactions… It is wonderful, you little chinky looking troll, you! HAHAHA

dillpickle

what he said !

dillpickle

fascist!!

Rex

I’m trying to figure out how an ‘e-cig’ can be considered an ‘eco’ product – is the plastic tubing eco? Errrrr no….What about the propylene glycol liquid people inhale?….errrrr No…..so please enlighten me what’s eco about this new fad that is an ‘e-cigarette’.
You don’t want to inhale second hand smoke but are happy to inhale second hand engine coolant from fasionista’s ‘e-cigs’?

Jake

Engine coolant? Dont you mean glycol that is an ingredient in coolants? Or are you just stupid? And it is a thick form of water vapour not some poisonus gas, try going outside on a humid day its a lot alike…

Jed

God, I wish people would be less stupid and only remark about things they know about. Or at least do some research first. Ethylene glycol is used in antifreeze, not propylene glycol.

Radley Cooledge

There is still no proof that smoking causes lung cancer, they have never been able to create lung cancer in lab mice by exposing them to tobacco, even the equivalent of 200 cigs per day, this is well known in the scientific community. I’m not saying it’s good for you, or you should smoke, i’m simply pointing out that nobody really knows what the cause of lung cancer is.

The truther

I do. Fluoride, aspartame and stuff in our food like glucose and trams fat

The truther

Trans fat

Devin

You know, it could all be those shots that the government gives each and everyone of us at some point in your life. also, I am like 40% sure that someone/something gave me a shot in the shoulder while I was asleep or something. I have an IQ around 170, its not like I don’t rember what it felt like to have a shot, and there is a red like penetration mark like a red dot for sure. Muscular pain. They may be fucking with us in several ways, your logical best bet is that in the case of this alien shit being real, smoke and drink. Put toxins IN YOUR BODY. Fuck that vessel up, I’d rather scuttle my ship than be the breeding ground for another generation of an alien agenda not telling us all what the fuck is happening beyond the wool. I shouldn’t have to read 60% of the truth on the internet, but this is the world we live in.

Solafein

source? mechanism? things can be toxic for entirely different reasons. not even close to all toxic chemicals are toxic via that mechanism. cancer is typically caused by mutagenic chemicals, which cause damage to DNA. this damage can accumulate, and break certain genes (or activate others, like telomerase), causing the cell to become cancerous. it’s very unlikely that the fluoride ion would even have any significant interaction with DNA in the first place, considering the negative-negative charge repulsion resulting from the excessive quantity of phosphodiester bridges in DNA.

glucose? really? like the fundamental carbohydrate utilized by essentially all life on earth and synthesized by all plants? yeah, that’s the most likely candidate there.

Brian

apart from you trying to sound really intelligent behind your computer screen, fluoride is a neurotoxin, so yes it does have a significant interaction. derp derp derp.

Solafein

I’m not trying to “sound really intelligent” behind my computer screen. I am making the case that fluoride is not a carcinogen, as this has never been found to be the case and there doesn’t seem to be any speculative reason to guess that it would be either. Flouride is an incredibly small (smaller than hydrogen), negatively charged ion. DNA harbors an overall large, negative charge due to the phosphate groups in its backbone. In theory, charge-charge repulsion would prevent fluoride from directly interacting with DNA to any significant degree. There may be indirect ways that fluoride could promote cancer, such as through fluoride’s interaction with enzymes necessary for cell growth and division or for DNA replication and repair, but I have not seen any information regarding this.

If fluoride is a neurotoxin (I will grant this, though I don’t know what concentrations of fluoride ions would be sufficient to cause neurotoxicity), then it in no way follows that it is also a carcinogen, because there is no correlation or link between substances that are neurotoxins and substances that are mutagenic (i.e., they cause mutations in DNA–and thus may also be carcinogenic). A neurotoxin is a substance that is capable of causing damage and/or death to a neuron. A carcinogen is something that increases the probability of contracting some form of a cancer by directly or indirectly damaging DNA.

One way that DNA can be damaged is through errors in DNA replication. Certain chemical compounds collectively known as intercalating agents are able to fit themselves in between two base pairs (through pi-pi stacking interactions) of the double helix. This causes the helix to contort and deform. This contortion causes problems during replication as the replication machinery is unable to actually “read” what the original base was, and new DNA is synthesized by reading a template and synthesizing its complement (example: A pairs with T, so if the cell sees an A in the template, then it adds a T to the strand being synthesized). If the template cannot be read properly, the cell must simply fill in the unknown gap with a “guess”, otherwise DNA replication would be completely stopped and the cell would die. These guesses by the cell’s machinery may or may not lead to deleterious mutations in the DNA, and some of these deleterious mutations may lead to cancer if they just so happen to occur in the right place.

There are other ways of causing cancer too, but all of them involve damage to DNA. Many times, the previously mentioned “right place” is within a type of gene called a proto-oncogene. A proto-oncogene is normally a regular gene that serves some cellular function, but enough mutations in it yield what is called an oncogene, which is a gene that is directly responsible for cancerous growths. These oncogenes typically cause cells to grow and divide at an uncontrollable rate and prevent differentiation, so you end up with a mass of undifferentiated tissue (i.e., a tumor). Fluoride does not appear to play any role in this process, though it would be interesting to see how future studies go as far as this topic is concerned.

Tl;dr – Fluoride may be a neurotoxin, but neurotoxins are not carcinogenic by definition. Fluoride does not appear to play any significant role in the development of cancer, regardless of its other potential health side effects. There have been a few studies looking at fluoride in drinking water and cancer, and the results have been inconclusive at best (see: cancer.org for their article on water fluoridation).

MarkTele

Heartland Institute would be proud of you.

Orchid Swan

Okay.

Go examine an open smoker’s cadaver, with the literally black lungs, and compare it to the open non-smoker’s cadaver right next to it.

Your claim is NOT “well known” in the scientific community (a community I doubt you are a part of), and is absolutely rediculous.

One bought and paid for study doesn’t count for much (if it even exists, source please?). If you truly are a scientist/doctor, take an epidemiology class and learn a thing or two.

randomthought

There are constant studies on cancer and NONE of them have ever found any definitive “This causes cancer” type of facts. They find evidence that something seems to be strongly linked to cancer. (Which bleach is–including the bleach used in sanitary napkins and tampons…yet no one’s panties are in a twist that there’s an epidemic of girls getting cervical cancer and the majority use tampons or that each year roughly 20 billion of them end up in landfills.) If, without a doubt, smoking (or anything else actually) caused cancer then it would banned immediately for obvious reasons. If smoking definitively caused cancer–every smoker would get cancer. So, why do some smokers never get cancer? Because CAN (theoretically) cause cancer and is strongly LINKED to an increased risk for cancer. I just read something a few days ago suggesting that all cancers are a genetic predisposition and introducing carcinogens (such as smoking or tampon wearing) simply speeds up the process–which makes a lot of sense on a physiological front. Either way, smoking is gross. It stinks, it’s bad for you, it’s bad for the environment and everyone around you. However, SMOKERS ARE STILL PEOPLE and this shameful idea that smoking somehow makes people less of a person is absolutely unacceptable.

servantoftruth

Smoking is actually good for you. It will make you taller and build muscle on your frame. Makes you healthier and smarter. All people should smoke including very young children.

Peter

Here is a study that creates lung tumors in mice by exposing them to cigarette smoke. It also reviews the history of the science on this topic:

for real! that’s a red man. if you say N.A, ok your being PC and I give you credit for trying. The truth is they were never americans either.
also….
“And buying from a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds isn’t much different than buying food from an Hain Celestial, which is owned by Kraft. So I won’t judge you for that.”

Thank you for not judging me here!?!?
I judge you for being a total a** wipe that wasted hours “researching” and writing an article that has no scientific backing, purely based on your opinion that smokers are the most selfish people alive, but soon to die so it’s ok. I’m glad you didn’t fall into the trap of smoking. I made it much longer into my life than most before it grabbed me, but it’s a tyrant. I won’t get into explaining of the other things I need in my life so that I can quit smoking, but I can promise you I want to and it’s not fair to be ostracized in this manner. It won’t make me quit any sooner. If I was worried about how it looked to people I would have quit all ready. It doesn’t make me smoke less, but it does mean I hang with the smokers. It means that people like you and myself have some stupid line between us even when I don’t have a cigarette lit.
Heavy metal angry music makes my head hurt. There is no scientific proof but I and some others believe that these vibrations can carry miles and manifest a headache regardless of whether one can actually hear the music. No one should listen to heavy metal music anywhere, it is bad for the environment and our health.
The fact you even reference jokingly being more concerned with the possibility of second hand smoke than over a friend’s bad romantic choices and surely broken heart is so lame. Just so so lame, I hope your friends will see the judgy, self centered person you are and choose whether or not they still want to be around you.

“NPR’s doin’ it–it must be right!” Wow, lady…For someone who appears to be decently educated, you are impressively awkward.

Joe

My significant other is a nearly full-blooded (I believe the percentage listed on her card is 97%) Apache, and she insists on being referred to as a Native American, or a native. The same is true of her family and friends on the reservation. It’s really about how you identify yourself, ethnically.

Oliver

I smoke cigarettes and I often smoke American spirit for a few reasons. First, the flavor is distinct and I started smoking with them so I enjoy the flavor. Second, the cigarettes are substantially bigger than other top brands and therefor take over twice as long to smoke, which does not only cut down on how many cigarettes smoked in a time period, but also makes smoking them more of an occasion which I believe is a large part of what smoking tobacco is all about. Lastly, I know that I may be giving myself cancer, and I say may not to be in denial, but because in reality I am 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer than a male who doesn’t smoke, but it is not a sure thing. More and more chemicals are being associated with cancer, but why do we care about length of life so much? I believe in quality over quantity and think that if smoking makes me feel as though my quality of life is increased, who are you to tell me that I am an ignorant hipster because I smoke a brand of cigarettes. I know I already said lastly, but I would also like to bring up the argument about obesity and reiterate that it is okay for you to tell me that I am a dumb ass because I’m ruining my life by smoking, but you would never dare say that to an obese person who is more likely to have heart conditions and strokes than a fit person. Obesity is an epidemic that is still treated as a misfortune while smoking is an affliction which is seen as a bad choice. Addiction is a disease not a choice.

Skyy

I ge that you want your quality of life to be high and all but please think about your quality of life when you’re sitting in the chair getting Kimo therapy, when your hair falls out, when you’re too nauseous to eat for three days.

happytrails

*Chemotherapy….one word

katwa ngoma

I wish more people, not just NON-Smokers could hear what you are saying Oliver. I wish you the best in your Long Quality of life. Addiction is a disease like Obesity. i am glad a smoker like I shares some views of things in our societies.Lets NOT be “Prophets of Doom” but rather solution seekers an encouragers of improvement of quality of life by addressing our daily challenges without the pointy finger!

happy spirit smoker

Wish I had something intelligent to answer back at your liberal raving about smokers. But I really just want to say piss of. So I’ll get to the point. Piss Off. I wish I could smoke a cigar in your presence and blow it in your face. But I’ll settle with a piss off. Go play at the playground with the plastic slides and the rubber recycled tires as padding. Also you tight wad your boyfriend is a vag to hang with such a prude. He will dump you soon.

clairekellerman

I love people. I even love people who smoke. It is not personal that I get a raging, painful headache after being near a smoker for a whiff, a few minutes, or an hour, and the headache and all-over body detoxing-pain lasts a minute, 2 hours, and six hours, respectively. It is relentless and painful, so I hate how I feel after being near smokers who are covered in a film of third hand smoke toxins, and I hate breathing in the second hand smoke that has been shown to cause hearing loss in teens (Google: NYTimes, & Scientific American), and I hate that I do not have a choice on a beach walk to breathe only fresh clean clear ocean air because people are smoking nearby. I am sorry there is smoking, because I do not get headaches unless I am near a smoker or other strong pollution source briefly.

If it interests you: Please read Natural Highs by Hyla Cass, MD, cassmd.com, she is an integrative wellness doctor who specializes in natural ways to get a feeling of connection, cultivating healthy energy, balancing moods, and getting away from toxic, degenerative addictions in food, sugar, cigs, pot and alcohol & other drugs. She explains what these things do to the brain, and body, and offers great alternatives that are regenerative and ways to make the switch most easily.

https://flic.kr/ps/n14No K Trout

People who wear too much perfume give me headaches, too. What shall we do with them? Once you’re done advertising, of course…

clairekellerman

Oberto Airaudi of Damanhur said “Advertising is for potato chips.” I agree. I am offering a name and books and resources to alleviate suffering. This is in the Spirit of giving, & being of service. and I pray it is found by those ready to receive, not deceive themselves that love is not real. It is the only real thing, and that is where my giving these resources comes from. Aloha, K Trout.

Alex

Eh….Hyla Cass is all bull. It takes years to perform a longitudinal health study, you think this one doc has all the answers? “healthy energy”, “detox” are all just key words that some marketing genius came up with. You don’t find such vernacular in a vast majority of published articles.

clairekellerman

Alex, what rock do you read under?: the “vast majority of published articles” do not use any words or content that is true or empowering, so you’re welcome to stay where you are, or read on, dear brother. If you are open to holistic health, there are many doctors waking up to working with the integrity of the body aligned with Nature’s empowering options. When you are ready, seek and you shall find. I love what I have found with Dr. Hyla Cass, MD. I am glad to add my success and inspiration to the conversation. Healthy energy and detoxing are the outcome of choices, healthy choices, which Dr. Hyla Cass showed me. Brilliant choices. Aloha.

MzProgressive

You should be embarrassed by your anti-tobacco hysteria. Apparently you have not done any real research into this issue, save to justify your own puerile preferences. The anti-tobacco movement has its genesis in 1) having made one class action lawyer a very rich man (he is now the COO of ASH, which is more lucrative than the practice of law); and 2) the desire for American pharmaceutical companies to sell untaxed “nicotine replacement products” at a great profit, while reaping “charitable” tax advantages for promoting their own brands.
Google: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, if you think I am pulling your delicate leg. (BTW, RWJF is the “charitable” entity of Johnson & Johnson – manufacturers and/or licensees of Nicorette, Nicoderm, and the suicide-facilitating Chantix.)
I would also be interested to know why you believe that your civil right to stroll through any public park somehow supersedes my own ? Especially since it is likely that I have contributed more in taxes to maintain these spaces. (Oh and BTW, isn’t it true that you have likely ,breathed the products of several Diesel busses (and likely hundreds of cars) before having passed through the gates of that PUBLIC space?

Carlos

Judgemental prick.

mr. mount

And it was good. Aenima

kgb

I’m just now catching this, a bit late, enjoying the coments, both sides – am an American Spirit smoker, have been since, oh, way back, not to be cool, just can’t stand the smell of a Malrboro and I do observe out of courtesy of non-smokers certain standards, that written you wondered if anybody sent their butts to Terracyle (I haven’t read all comments) I DO and send ask any and every smoker I know to save their butts for me to send to them as well. About to ship some today – as American Spirit ran a very eco-friendly campaign re: pollution and butts – an eye-opener. As is the sentiment of so many of these comments: I will only say as it is you and your boyfriend who are making the choice of exposure: “If you don’t like it, you can lump it”.

McKe

Hmmm. I’m not a smoker, and dislike being around smokers because I’m what I call a smoke vortex (no matter where I sit the smoke comes directly at my face), but I think this article is extremely slanted and based on opinion rather than fact. YOU don’t like smoking or smokers, that’s fine… but instead of quoting statistics for conventional tobacco products maybe you should find studies based around organic vs. conventional tobacco products. Or, hell, look up any studies on it at all instead of quoting things you’ve over-heard other people saying. (We all know how 100% correct our neighbors are about everything, right?)

No, I’m not saying organic is ok to smoke or better for you…
What I’m saying is by slinging insults and spitting “hipster” like it’s some sort of racial slur makes you look like an imbecile who hasn’t mentally graduated from high school. Which in turn makes your entire article seem baseless.

Good job at providing a skewed look at American Spirits based on your own prejudices. FOX news could use a reporter like you.

https://flic.kr/ps/n14No K Trout

So true. Damn these stupid blogs that always real me in, even though they’re full of dumb shit, unfounded arguments, half truths, and skewed facts based solely on one’s opinions.

smoker17

Lol! That was wonderful! The entire time I was reading this article, all I could think of is a bitter “hipster,lol. Perhaps the author is not popular in a scene where being awkward is the appeal. You know, just because a person smokes doesn’t make them this deranged lunatic that (and I am quoting) “probably don’t have their shit together”. What does that even mean? You know something, none smoker’s like you make smokers feel the same way about you, as you do them. Walking around with a false sense of entitlement. Grown people have the right to do what they want with and to their bodies. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t take away from the fact that smokers have just as much right to smoke as you do not to. “When smoker’s walk and smoke, blowing it at everyone behind them”. Yeah, it’s called public and this is a relatively free country. So, if you don’t like it, cross the fucking street. .or walk faster. …or take a cab. I smoke and couldn’t care less about if you like it or not. I don’t smoke in front of buildings, or throw my butts in people’s lawns, or smoke around children, or sick people, or at a football game in the bleachers. I am as respectful as it gets really when it comes to smoking. Why don’t you take off the dress and end the tea party, and then proceed to get over yourself! There are so many other more important things you could be ranting about. Maybe the genocide happening in our own country. Or the fact that most of the drugs that are illegal came from your government. Or maybe that the real terrorists are right here in America. Or the underground young female and young male sex slave trade. Cry me a freaking river dude, honestly. Get a life and stop worrying about what other people are doing. If you don”t like cigarette smoke, then don’t go to places where you know it will be.

American Spirit Smoker

RIGHT ON, well-said … And to the writer: Honey, if you don’t want to be around smokers, you might want to stay home from your musician BF’s gigs … music and smoking just seem to go “hand-in-hand” with many folks, historically … And as far as e-cigs: thanks for the suggestion, but they are not appealing in the least; I want real tobacco, the real thing.

Andres

Oh my. Just because it is your right to inhale carcinogens doesn’t mean you have the right to subject others to your certain fate. If you won’t smoke around children or sick people, you obviously know that your pollution is harmful to those around you. So when in public, stop smoking if you think your filthy habit will affect those around you. Your statements at the end of your comment have nothing to do with the author’s position. Get a life and stop worrying about what other people are doing? I don’t care if you wake up every morning coughing mucous out of your lungs because you weren’t intelligent enough to quit smoking, as I am certain the author will share my disregard, but do not try to include unwilling parties in your poor decisions.

i only smoke in my own space.
if you don’t like my fire, dont come around..

Devin

Hell yes, free will baby. God gave it to us and these oppressive cunts and dickholes wanna take it away! Smoke in their faces..

Greg Petliski

‘Cuz Im gonna burn one down!

Jako o Links

intelligence has NOTHING to do with addiction

Greg Petliski

Thats why the comedian Bill Hicks said to non-smokers “I’d quit smoking if I didn’t think I’d become one of you”

Pamela

RIP Bill Hicks, the man!! =)

david asher

Poor Bill. I wish he would have quit. We really could have used him in the Bush years and even now.

boocat

He died of pancreatic cancer, not lung cancer!! Nothing to do with cigs.

david asher

I’m sorry I forgot that fact. Ciggies are still poison though.

boocat

I needed a laugh. Thanks for reminding me of the late, great Bill Hicks.

Alyssa

Fucking amen.

TatianafromItaly

LOL…Excellent!

Shawn Glenn

Only hipsters hate the word hipster. You have been found out! Also, I smoke organic american spirits and she is right.

asdf

Agreed.

Independent Danza

almost everything you said about smoking also applies to people with children. I hate children and love smoking:

” It’s an incomprehensible bad habit that people who don’t have their shit together do that makes everyone around them annoyed. It smells bad. It makes your apartment repulsive. It makes you a chore to kiss. And it has increasingly become correlated with lower income and lower levels of education. “

AldenWicker

Hahahahahahaha

LightSmoker78

lmao…so true!

divineflo

This really helped. I needed a push to want to quit…and this is deff a push in the right direction. Got some work to do…but thanks…and bless up.

CORI

I got about halfway through your post before I had to stop. I could say the same thing about “writers” like you, as you say about American Spirit smoking hipsters. Don’t get me wrong, you are a wonderful writer/blogger, but you did this cause you have nothing else to talk about. Just like how you think American Spirit smokers are trend-following NY/SFers, or people who are low-income and not educated…. blog-writing hipsters write about random, unimportant topics that are useless, and unless they are brilliantly and wittingly written, with like tons of sentence breaks and analogies to make them sound smart, blogsters only care about whether they “like, make or break monthly average users.”
Smokers know they are making a bad decision when they start smoking. No need to throw it in their face after they’re balls deep in a bad habit and can’t help themselves. Yeah, I get it that you don’t enjoy being around people who smoke, but my goodness, lady. You’re pretty much trying to make a point that smoking is disgusting and harmful, but that American Spirits are better than other brands. No need to pull a Shakespeare with your drawn out hipster-blogster-discussions on the most uninteresting topic ever. You suck.

CORI

I got about halfway through your post before I had to stop. I could say the same thing about “writers” like you, as you say about American Spirit smoking hipsters. Don’t get me wrong, you are a wonderful writer/blogger, but you did this cause you have nothing else to talk about. Smokers know they are making a bad decision when they start smoking. No need to make them feel worse after they’re balls deep in a bad habit and can’t help themselves. Yeah, I get it that you don’t enjoy being around people who smoke, but my goodness, lady. You’re pretty much trying to make a point that smoking is disgusting and harmful, but that American Spirits are better than other brands. No need to pull a Shakespeare with your drawn out hipster-blogger-discussions on the most uninteresting topic ever.

Semore Butz

I didn’t know Bill OReilly was writing articles on here…but the “facts” are just about as accurate as those on FOX NEWS…so he must be.

Bob Dole

Because the facts on the liberal media are soo accurate right?……all major news is bullshit you liberal brainwashed tard.

parapher

I smoke occasionally, although I do consider it somewhat of a vice, health-wise. I love smoking when I’m in a contemplative mood. Just sitting quietly, thinking about things, slowly performing the little smoking ritual. Inwardly I often shoot a little prayer to the Natives when I smoke.

I think everything can be done unless it becomes a habit. Smoking every day will leave you feeling badly and given time diseases will ensue. I don’t think smoking tobacco was ever meant to be done that way. When there is a balance to your life, even small vices like smoking some tobacco every now and then won’t have the power to overthrow your health or other aspects of your life.

However, when I hear about dancing for eight hours straight and try to see that in the perspective of a balanced life, I have a hard time placing that. Such extreme exertions fueled by beer don’t quite make the cut (no pun intended) for me either. In fact, it makes me wonder if some stronger ‘medicines’ are involved, such as ecstasy. Who dances an entire day, otherwise? Perhaps I’m missing something here, but I would doubt it. It seems like a pretty extreme activity if you ask me.

I do fully agree that one should not ‘make’ others have to deal with your tobacco smoke, though. Even though I can enjoy tobacco, I don’t like the strong smell of smoke filling up any space. However, at times the scent of tobacco smoke wandering through a park can be quite enjoyable. Enclosed spaces should not be filled with smoke of whatever kind!

fred

you sound like a whiney little bitch

selfish kitty

Thank you soo much for this article, it really gave me the anger to quit. Half of these posts are tobacco agents or just plain sociopath mammon worshippers. I have occasionally and habitually smoked ever since camel put cartoons on their packs and sold cigarettes to kids at the gas station right next to the elementary school I went to. Also, now I remember that all the gas stations had the cigarettes at child reaching/stealing level back then on the outer-side of the register table. I used to like the old, pre 911 American Spirits. But then I noticed they couldn’t name their pack flavors all the sudden and turned to the color scheme thing and suddenly had two organic varieties. It used to be ALL organic. So I thought, crap, did someone buy the American spirit company? Are these even really organic or additive free anymore? I checked their website where someone has asked a question, “Is American Spirit GMO?” The companies response was rudely , “no” that’s it, just “no”, buzz off. I said wait a minute, this company used to be nice, and now they are assholes. Also the cigarettes make you feel like there is a lump of tar in your chest after smoking a whole one and even my smoking friends had commented on how much they stink. I starting smoking much more after buying them aswell and started experiencing cigarette hangovers through to the next day aswell as dumped a lot more money per pack into the evil corporation. It is not the same company anymore at all, they have the damned lucky strike symbol for gods sake. I hate American Spirit now, not the old brand, I damn any demon trying to defend it. F U. And by the way, your clever marketing backfired and led me to the true native american blends known to cure nicotine addiction in their tradditional smoke blends.

SAY WHAT YOU WANT TROLLS, YOU DESERVE TO BURN IN HELL . RRRRAAAARRRR.

nisakiman

Nice username. Very apposite.

Obadiah Cornblaster

It’s fun to judge others, isn’t it?

harrytrasheater

PBR is NOT a craft brew. it is simply a lower quality beer with well a well produced symbol. Sidenote: thanks to all ‘craft’ beer makers, now every asshole over 30 thinks they are a beer expert.

ASm101

Consider that everyone is on there own path to enlightenment. Anger and judgement never sends the right message. ‘The Four Agreements, any type of Buddhism or the 12 Steps will really set one free. Opening ones eyes will set one free. Love compassion and tolerance begins with ones self.

Blazeitup

First off I’m no doctor or specialist – but I’m curious whether American Spirits contain MAOI (monoamine oxidase inhibitor), which is a form of antidepressant that helps deliver nicotine through the blood/brain barrier? It’s one of the main reason why quitting smoking is so hard due to withdrawal symptoms (if you’ve ever taken SSRIs or MAOI antidepressants such as Lexapro or Xanax and tried to wean off or quite cold turkey, you know what I’m talking about)

Recent research from a number of reputable academic sources (google MAOI in cigarettes) show that almost all cigarette brands use it as an active compound (what Phil Morris won’t tell us) and actually it’s the MAOI *combined with* the nicotine that causes neuro-chemical reaction associated with pleasure relief when smoking, rather than just the nicotine itself.

So back to my original question, I’m wondering if American Sprits, which claims to be additive free, uses MAOIs as an active compound in their products, cuz this shit is no joke folks…

Blazeitup

As to the article itself, I actually landed here because I was trying to find out whether American Spirits are really additive free… instead I find more than two thirds of the article attempting to associate the product with specific culture or groups of people that the author seem to dislike. Shit is misleading.

Dragonsmuse

I would really be interested in that as well, because I just started taking a medication that says you can’t take it if you have been taking MAOI’s…

Toni

So… YOU don’t like smoking, so it’s okay to berate an entire minority group because of your preferences. Last time I checked ETS/secondhand smoke dangers were dis-proven in a handful of recent scientific studies, including one from the World Health Organization. But of course, people like you wouldn’t know that because hey, it takes too much time to research. Better to spew self righteous ignorance and feel better instead.

If it’s not the BS second hand smoke dangers, then what’s the issue? Scent? You want people to behave how you want them to because you don’t want to smell their smoke? I can apply that to your perfume, the smell of the food you consume, your home, your pet. I guess it gives me the moral right to look down on you and view you as some kind of vile creature from another world.

The sheer lack of any evidence in your piece is laughable. A glass of tap water contains thousands of times more arsenic than cigarettes. A single minute from the average car’s exhaust equates to smoking 42.5 cigarettes all at once. I guess we should ban cars and buses too, right?

It is my right to smoke in the few places that I still can. You kicked us out of bars, out of restaurants, restricted us from smoking on business property that we own, banned us from flights, banned us from airports, banned us within 4 meters of public buildings. Quit bullying people into doing what you want them to do. Leave us alone you fascist pigs.

Fact is, you state opinion as hard truth. Fact is, no matter how high and mighty you feel, you are just as hateful and ignorant as any other bigot.

someone

Oh wow, a tobacco company shill.

nisakiman

Ah, the last refuge of the anti-tobacco zealot;

“He can’t actually like something I disapprove of! He must be in the pay of Big Tobacco!”

How little you know. Maybe one day someone will enlighten you. Although I rather doubt it. There’s none so blind as those who will not see.

someone

Look at me, the poor smoker. I’m so victimized.

E. L. Holmes

Oh hush.

E. L Holmes

I like this. I really do, a lot. You sound like me when I rage and fury.
You are quite right. Most of these ignorant morons (forgive me, it’s how I feel on any given day) DON’T bother to even look farther than the often-outdated opinions of others, and DON’T bother to do independent digging of their own.
I like how you turned the bitching around with the perfume and home and pet smells. Touche.
As for the secondhand smoke… There are still numerous harmful things in it, regardless of what studies have been done. I’ve read a few of those study results, and I do disagree with them. I reserve that right, especially as a scientist myself.

There is a lovely feeling in turning around one’s bigotry and sending it back at them. A bigot is a bigot, regardless of the area.

Ex-Smoker

I’m happy that American Spirits have been bought by the Reynolds company, as I’ve been very satisfied with American Spirits up until the last 4 months or so when changes had occurred in the production of the way the Santa Fe company originally made them with more tobacco that burned longer, and no taste or flavoring in the paper. They now taste to me like the Camel flavored cigarettes that have a taste that turns my stomach, they also burn as fast as any of the cheaper and more common brands like Marlboro and Camels. I’m now able to finally make the switch to vapor, which is less harmful and better tasting in my opinion, than what is currently being sold as American Spirits. I also am thankful that corporate greed and the insult of customer intelligence, that has obviously to me become a part of American Spirit production, is finally the motivational factor that I needed to let go of a cigarette that I no longer find to be palatable after over a decade of satisfaction. Thank you RJ Reynolds. I’m finally able to quit.

Guest

Now that I know what a raging bitch thinks about smoking I can get on with my life.

Gretchen E.

Right, so you hate everything about smoking…but e-cigs are okay. If you’re so concerned about your health, I’d think you’d pick it over going to listen to some bands…even your boyfriend. Oh wait, aren’t you going to these parties with friends “who probably don’t have their shit together?” As you ranted on for a good length about lower income, trashier people being smokers, you then mention how your smoking friends are smart, educated, etc. etc…Loved it! Oh, and walking through a haze past bars is par for the course. It’s a bar and one has to smoke outside now…perhaps choose a different path or hold your breath (just don’t forget to let it back out ).

Phil Tuncap

Don’t judge everyone that smokes cigarettes because you have personal hatred towards it

Dr. Pauley

You lost me at “uneducated masses of West Virginia;” I stopped reading at that point. I was born and raised in WV and hold a doctorate in education, you small-minded, judgmental little moron.

Eric

I thought that was also pretty unfair, and ironic considering how ignorant and self-righteous she is.

E. L. Holmes

Despite my opinions on that particular matter (Basically, I use “Yankee”(referring to WV) as general substitute curse word or expletive), I do agree. There are some West Virginians that have at least some decent college education. I admit, I’m wrong there.

Joe

Ahh, no. Not only do French and Italian people think it is normal my chum. You overlook the entire region of the world called “Asia”. Go to China and look around and understand that millions smoke and are not looked down upon as socially hazardous law breakers. It’s seen as it ought to be seen as a personal choice just as eating duck liver is a personal choice. You may say that well it is different than that because it can harm people with second hand smoke. Well, that may be true to the slightest and unproven fraction of scientific rouse. Although the air in China is so bad it doesn’t really matter if one smokes or doesn’t smoke since the effects are nearly the same. My point is that smoking is not an ancient relic of a bygone era – in fact it is a growing show of personal freedom and social status in Asia and it’s not going away anytime soon. At least for sure not in our lifetimes. Smoking is part of popular culture and does in fact fuel multi millions in income and tax revenue.

I don’t care what u think

Oh, you dont like my smoke? Might I suggest you stay away from me. Stay home and eat some granola or something.

Rizzo919

Stop going to lame, trendy, parties, filled with posers who think just because they date the guy in the band, that the music is good. I know it’s tough being young and cool, and tougher than ever to move to New York, and have your coolness stand out. Do I smell another trendy, uninformed law, waiting to surface out of New York, to slowly infect the rest of our great nation again? I know the smoking in the club was annoying. However, I’m sure the MDMA (ecstasy), was top tits. Stop forcing your views in people, and be thankful you live in a country where you can have an opinion, and not get shot. Well you can still get shot for no reason here. But that’s another subject. Quit your bitching, move, and get a job.

Wren

How are organic/additive-free cigarettes not safer than their non-organic additive-full counterparts? I don’t see the logic.

Eric

“Safer” is a misleading word. It’s better to think of them as “almost as bad, just slightly less bad”. I’ve smoked AS for a couple years and the difference with normal cigs/tobacco is pretty noticeable — they taste different, often more metallic, they burn much faster, and have a stronger nausea associated.

Stuart O’Quin

I quit smoking cigarettes four years ago. I still smoke a pipe every two months or so, and hookah about twice in a year: I don’t consider myself a smoker anymore. I love tobacco and do smoke out of choice. In fact, I never smoke when I’m having a phantom craving.

Tobacco is something that I love and something that connects me to my native American heritage. I don’t smoke compulsively but can’t see why I’d go through life never indulging in things that I truly enjoy. I smoke about as often as I head to Susie Q’s for a peanut butter milkshake. Neither one is adding years to my life, but I love them just the same.

Tim

For people who don’t have their shit together??? LOL wasn’t our President a smoker? fail

LightSmoker78

hey…if there’s an alcoholic or obese person blocking the sidewalk are you going to make them feel like complete utter SHIT as well to prove how much better you are than everyone else? I have a strong feeling that you would…..smh.

James The guy

Dear lord, please tell me you didn’t pay for college. At least tell me you didn’t set out to be a writer. This article has serious errors in the way it’s written. It has terrible structure. Several times the writer jumps between fact and opinion. This creates confusion with most readers understanding fact from writer’s opinion. Apart from the structure another major issue is the writers opinion.The writer simply stating that awful analogy destroyed any creditability the writer may of had. I’m not even going to go into the hipster rant. It’s an attempt to look educated, but worked out more to like a North Korean election. This is an example of a non-cohesive train wreck piece of writing.

AldenWicker

That’s actually how you write an opinion essay. You state your opinion, and you support it with facts. I get paid to write for a living. Do you get paid to comment for a living?

Eric

uh sorry, but do you realize that YOU are getting paid to ‘comment for a living’? This piece is pure commentary on your own anecdotes, there is no real original research or ‘facts’. Opinion pieces are the fluffiest, easiest pieces of ‘journalism’, if we can even call them that.

I have nothing against you personally, but this piece is not good. I’d keep it out of your portfolio.

Martin

jeez, you seem to like ‘underground’ clubs (how very hipster of you) , and go there knowing people will be smoking. Find some non smoking ‘underground’ clubs and try and enjoy yourself there. Perhaps you’d prefer non smoking ranting clubs, maybe you would have fun there.

Eric

It’s amazing how you can write on and on (and on and on) about something you know so little about. A non-smoker, and the typically self-righteous one at that.

I live in Germany, I’m no hipster, but I do roll my own cigarettes with American Spirit tobacco (or other equivalent brands, but always additive free ‘natural’ tobacco in any case). I’ve never bought the pre-rolled AS, so I don’t know about those. It’s just cheaper and more economical to roll your own here and that’s why I and most other young(er) peopler do it. I also use charcoal filters, which filter at least a tiny bit more of the tar/chemicals out.

I’ve smoked AS for a couple years now, and the rare time I bum a cig or tobacco from someone else, the different taste/feeling IS VERY NOTICEABLE. That’s coming from a smoker, so I actually know what I’m talking about. After you’ve smoked only AS for a long time, you can taste the more ‘chemical’ note of standard cigs, and they often give me a slightly noxious/dizzy head, different from the smoke itself. It is subtle, but noticeable for the ‘connoisseur’.

I don’t really care who owns them. I know they’re not ‘better’ than normal cigarettes.

I can also tell you, since I actually live in Germany, that AS organic blends ARE available here and labelled as such. There is often a fine-print disclaimer that they aren’t better than normal cigs/tobacco, but I don’t think anyone believes that anyway. Organic stuff is a far wider and publicly accepted ‘thing’ than the US too, it’s not just for self-righteous health kooks on websites like ecocult.

metyldragon

Bottom line here is that you “hate” cigarettes and smokers no matter what. FYI, I worked many years in hospitals, cared for many lung cancer patients whom did not ever smoke or were around cigarette smoke. One example, Christopher Reeves wife, at 44 years of age died of lung cancer and did not ever smoke or was around it. Explain that……. and as far as the oceans, I think you need to research the huge amounts of plastic and garbage that has been dumped in the oceans. THAT, has been the most destructive to all marine life. The human body was not designed to ingest chemicals, high fructose corn syrup is a HUGE killer and would be a more viable rant for you… Yes, I do smoke, American Spirit Organic’s……and, although I am not a vegan, I still eat organic, as much as possible….and do NOT take any pharmaceuticals. For 75 years of age, I am very healthy. The state of Oregon outlawed smoking in all the Bars, restaurants and nightclubs. So, you could find a place to “Dance” without the smoke, then your rant would be much shorter….. Peace, love and Blessed Be……

I’m a light smoker. One pack lasts me around a month or two months sometimes. Not addicted yet, but I am moderately dependent on them. I mean, I’m aware that smoking actually intensifies your anxiety in the long run, but it’s a short-term solution (with additional long-term problems) to a long-term problem. Sometimes, you just get pissed after staying an extra 4 hours after what was already a long 8 hour shift. Anyways, the initial tone of the article suggested to me that this was going to be biased. I argued to myself that I didn’t really care what I was taking in from cigarettes to begin with, so why should I even be reading this? However, this article seemed to explain both sides (at least mildly) despite the writer’s personal feelings towards it. I’m not going to lie. I don’t like being dependent on them. I don’t like smoking in public. It happens though. I can’t fucking stand being in public and having to deal with people watching me. However, there are better coping methods that I should really put more effort into trying. I think every smoker should at least take the information in this article into consideration, opinionated or not. There are enough facts in this article that agree with any further research you do for you to know it’s not all just opinionated garbage or anything like that. However, I encourage everyone here to look up actual studies on organic tobacco and read them in detail. That’s just me though. Completely up to you. I honestly don’t really care what you do either way. My friend made fun of me for trying to switch to e-cigs because (well, you’re generally considered a pussy for smoking American Spirits, even more so e-cigs) he said American Spirits were so much better and were even organic. He also listens to only the most underground of bands and wears cardigans and flannels and Empire, Empire shirts and smokes just to look cool as he openly stated to both me and his (ex) girlfriend. There is a reality to deal with that cigarettes just increase our own mortality rates, no matter what brand they are. It’s tough to swallow, but it exists regardless of our feelings towards it. I’m not going to act like this article helped me realize the wrong of my ways or anything like that. However, it (along with further research) did make the reality of the situation easier for me to accept. Thanks to the writer. Also, very well-written by the way. The tone and vocabulary made it a non-boring read.

Eric

Sounds like:
1) you should drop the cigs and down some Xanax.
2) AS aren’t organic by default, only the organic line is organic.
3) you should get some new ‘friends’.

allhaildavegrohl

1) Therapist advised natural methods. Dropping cigs anyways though. Just can’t say I’ve officially quit yet because it’s only been like a week since my last one.
2) Yeah, I know. I get the organic (the orange ones).
3) Kinda just scrapped them a while back. Didn’t get new ones.

fdafdsa

It should read “slightly less harmful”, They don’t use that nasty fucking tobacco juice shit that marlboro and camel use which is just laced with all sorts of lovely shit you wouldn’t be smoking unless they put it in there…..

“Smoking is over.” I like that. I started smoking right out of high school, and now 20 years later I’m still hooked. It’s disgusting. I am ashamed. None of my friends smoke anymore. In fact, the only people I see smoking these days are hard-lucks, standing around outside the courthouse or waiting for the bus. Cigarettes were cool before we all knew how nasty they are; now that we know the truth, smoking is a guilty pleasure at best. A slow suicide no matter how you spin it.

Dragonsmuse

I smoke, and I completely agree that others shouldn’t be subjected to the smoke if they don’t want to be. However, I still think this article was in poor taste. Who cares who is smoking American spirits? Why are we labeling them as hipsters? I also believe the vast majority of smokers know that American spirits aren’t good for you, but they are better than most cigarettes. I just don’t think there was a real purpose to this article other than to bash on smokers and “hipsters”

emmanuel

I really enjoyed this post it was awesome you got all the points and looked at it trough both perspectives it hit me do you have an instagram by any chance no I’m not a creeper lol just like the way you think!

MarkTele

Good job of pissing off the hip-nico-addicts, Alden. American Spirit, owned by RJR, masters of deception. Look up free base tobacco; AS cigs are the highest – waaay higher than anything else out there. Free base tobacco gets into your system way faster than all other cancerstix and are more addictive. I live with an AS addict – when she lights one up, I immediately get dizzy / nauseous. I have to bob & weave to get out of her smoke. And another thing I notice is that her piss really stinks – that toxic sickley-sweet nico smell. Her body smells similar. How does RJR bump up the freebase level of that trendy tobacco? In order for it to
release chemically, ammonia and other freebasing items are ADDED to the
products. American Spirit has often claimed to have no additives or
preservatives, but recent research has shown it to have the highest
level of free basing ability which indicates higher levels of ammonia.
Maybe it’s just made from natural sources…like URINE. No wonder her piss stinks. RJR has managed to sweep this info under the rug with lobbyist bribes and the help of Heartland Institute, which is also helping out the climate change denialists in a similar manner. They deny the tobacco – cancer link just like they deny the pollution – global warming link. Research it yourself and do yourself and everyone else around you a favor and get those drugs out of your life or your life will be gone.

Kolton

Don’t call you names? But then call all the smoker’s in the world “dicks.” You seem like one of those conceited arrogant freaks that are too dumb to study why I wouldn’t want to smoke tire rubber. I’m sorry American Spirit doesn’t tickle you pink, but you studied absolutely no facts about it, except, for who owns it. I hate people like you, this is the bullshit our children have to read and corrupt our minds with. What happened to the american’s who actually studied their argument’s before they went out and made themselves look like a dumbass, talking about something they know nothing about. Just because you stated your opinion more than ten times doesn’t mean I agree with you. No I don’t believe in societies idealistic belief’s on cigarettes, and no I won’t believe your opinionated brain shit you call facts. I suggest you pick up a book or two and start learning how to mind your own business before shoving your nose into something you are completely oblivious too. Thank’s.

James Turner

I can smoke a pack or 2 and just up and quit with these…I smoke 1 or 2 cigarettes (singles not packs!) of anything else and i feel like absolute crap…

Riley

It seems strange that you would be so over zealous against tobacco use and yet clearly encourage alcohol consumption, which is equally as damaging to your body. Although there is no such thing as “second-hand drinking” one could argue that intoxicated people are just as annoying as you find smokers to be, smokers generally aren’t loud and obnoxious (not implying that you are when you drink) when they drink, and think of all those cans and bottles that don’t get recycled. I live in LA and I don’t smoke (cigarettes) but I also realize that by locality alone I’m more likely to get cancer living in my beloved smog filled city than if I lived above in rural Montana. You should also look at international cancer statistics as well before posing your opinion. For instance the US has one of the lowest rates of adult smokers among developed nations (as you said smoking is indeed a thing of the past) and yet we have some of the highest rates of long cancer. On the other hand Japan for instance has one of the highest rates of smokers and also a significantly lower lung cancer rate. In no way am I saying they don’t cause cancer but if you look at the studies the claims made against cigarettes is often quite outlandish when you compare it with the actual data. The problem is we are promoting health care over vitality here in America and that is what more modern studies are showing is killing us. Now obviously there is no money in promoting people to live healthier thus all the lobbying done is pro-pharmaceuticals and anti-smoking. And I hate to break it to you there is no possible way you are living “green” by living in Brooklyn, New York has what 8 million people? And is constantly lit up by an array of lights, not to mention it gets very cold and very hot requiring more heat and AC and you don’t get much sunlight for solar power not that you’d have anywhere to put solar panels if you could. So maybe these American Meccas like NY, LA and Chicago are remnants of the past like you allude cigarettes are? Should we abandon them with cigarettes? I don’t see that happening.. An Elitist such as yourself should appreciated Social Darwinism and expect that the smokers and hipsters will just eventually die out, right? So honestly just leave it alone, smoking will eventually be a thing of the past and obsolete but in the mean time if people want to smoke Spirits or Newports, let them. People might find your Chanel No. 5 just as repulsive as smoke. Our founding fathers established “life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness” not that you are entitled to BE happy, so if you’re not finding it in Brooklyn here’s a thought… Move! Don’t go to raves and squat party’s! Just let people do what they want and stop advocating the taking of their rights to appease yourself. You seem quite intelligent and progressive it’s just a shame that you’ve seemed to have hopped on to this radical liberal band wagon that has no problem shitting on the constitution when it serves them so THEIR environment is clean and don’t have to look at the poor people who smoke and consume all the HFCS they can get their hands on. I hope to read more of your articles as they are entertaining I just assume you are still in college, grad-school maybe? I could be wrong but keep writing by all means, just be aware of all the consequences your opinions would have if they were implemented and also keep in mind the residual effects of them and if the environment/ personal health benefits would really justify taking more rights away from tax paying American smokers.

michal k-s

this is such a lazy article, had the chance to be very informtive but ended up in just a dull rant

carlee

wow why did this come up on google when I searched American spirit ingredients? please rename this “my self important smoker bashing”
I can’t believe I read this whole thing. fml

wish you couldn’t pay to get your site on the first search results page

AldenWicker

I didn’t pay a dime. There’s just thousands of people reading this, and no one else has written compellingly on the topic, so that is why it’s at the top.

chetep

no one else has written more sensationalistically… Lowest common denominator anyone?

REALIST

actually the radioactive fertilizer they use on cigarettes is what causes the cancer aided by the myriad of chemical additives they put in most cigarettes. Though Im not saying American Spirit does or does not do these practices. The myth needs to end that its the tobacco smoke. Burning a leaf does not output the radiation levels that comes from the combustion and dissemination of burning these radioactive products. 1300 MREM?? THATS MORE THAN A FULL BODY CT. WHY IS THIS NOT IN THE DISCUSSION?

mast

Blah blah blaha.. what a stuck up bitch. Trying to read through this pretentious person anti-cigarette rant was, well let’s just say it wasn’t happening. Sometimes you have to get over yourself and be okay with other people. I guess this site is called ecoCULT for a reason. It’s it collection of articles written by mentally unstable people.

Inka

I appreciate this article. As an American Spirit smoker who has been trying to quit, this really makes me think. Thanks.

Bob Dole

idk about the liberal hipster fairies you hang out with but the main thing ive heard about american spirits is they burn lot slower which is the reason i buy them. i could smoke 2 marlboro 100s in the time an american spirit lasts. They also taste really good and sell tins of tobacco to roll your own, which is the best ryo tobacco i think ive seen.

abbadabbadoo

Screw the tobacco, where can I buy those papers? They are absolutely the best for the New Whack.

common sense

The anti-smoking nut jobs all complained about all of the 6000 chemicals (or whatever number they come up with that day) going into your body. Now they come out with an essentially chemical free alternative and all of a sudden those chemicals don’t matter. It’s still bad. Somebody is lying.

Addict

Dear Alden Wicker,

In my opinion, your style of writing and conveying your ideals is boring and pompous and you forget the most important thing. Addiction.

Regards,

An Addict

Ethan

Very biased opinion on smoking. Not a smoker myself but it seems like the majority of this post is backed up by the fact that you don’t like cigarettes and the people who smoke them.

G

“smoking is over”
“It’s an incomprehensible bad habit that people who don’t have their shit together do that makes everyone around them annoyed.”

“What really sucks is that I have friends–all party people–who smoke. In every other way, they are authentic, smart, and kind people.”

You contradicted yourself, and I understand you are against smoking but the fact that you generalized the whole population of smokers is pretty ignorant. It’s unfair to judge someone just because of this habit. Maybe you should try and ask people why they smoke and try not to be so close minded about the topic. (I’m not trying to hate on you or anything)

Theodore Bundy

Are American spirit cigarettes still additive free?
I can’t seem to smoke one without getting a nicotine buzz that makes me
Sick. I do the same with other brands. That did not use to happen, before
I felt a lack of nicotine. Plus the smell has changed to. My girlfriend doesn’t smoke,
She noticed the difference as well. I roll my own cigarettes, with my own tobacco.
They seem to be like the earlier, American spirit brand.

LoneWolfMoon14

I love it you are hilarious I smoke this too, the light blue pack. I am actually a Wampanoag Shaman <3

Green Genius

They taste crappy compared to a malborough. But they have no pollonium, which you forgot to mention.

By constructive, do you mean somthing that is supportive of what you said or you agree with??

Drmgiver

Here is exactly what I just read. “whaaaa I’m a feminist and I am better than you and I deserve to be treated as such! I’m an elite liberal know it all and whaaaaaaaaaah!” Cry me a river you liberal moron.

trevor

Hi, my name is Trevor and I am and have been an American spirit smoker for about the last ten years. I can’t blame you at all for saying us smokers stink, its sotrue. I ddosmoke less and hope to quit soon. My mom ssmokes whatever is cheap and I swear they smell disgusting.. I mean I can tell if its an American spirit or not by the smell. So yeah they do smell, but they don’t smell toxic! If I don’t have them I won’t smoke cause I can taste all the chemicals . anyway, I liked your post very informative. By the way I save my butts, so when I run out u can reroll my butts cause I am poor! Lol! So I was just thinking about what to do about the butts and thought I remembered A.S. mentioning sumthin bout mailing them your butts tothem. I tthink they sent me an ashtray made if recycled butts. But yeah that’s what u was looking for, but I appreciate your article. And Don’t Litter Your Butts People!! Thank you… namaste….

Jessica Duffy

I thought the CATO Institute did a study that showed second hand smoke produced no significant amounts of carcinogens. So why are you so upset about people smoking around you? Yes people who smoke cheap cigarettes smell bad but its not actually harming you personally, and the only provable hazard from smoking pure tobacco is asthma like symptoms.

Salient 420

just smoke weed/hash in a vape. done and done! the only question…what to eat after.??

Gennie

Shaming smokers, how original. I’m a social smoker. I’ve bought maybe 3 packs in my 27 years. I have no desire to light up multiple times a day, but I do enjoy one every now and then. That being said, I would never smoke indoors or blow smoke in a non-smoker’s face, etc. That’s just rude, like this article.

Dale McKee

I’ve never read such a condescending, self-righteous tirade against smokers. I’m all for non-smokers not wanting to be exposed to our poison but to brand us as ignorant and uneducated in such an elitist and patronizing way has inspired me to respond to this article.
I was born and raised in Texas, and currently live in Virginia. You probably have these areas on your U.S. map marked as ‘the idiot states’. I’m a former Naval officer with the Special Operations Group out of Dam Neck in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I have two Masters degrees from the College of William & Mary. Despite only being in my late forties, my choices in life has enabled me to retire early and dedicate my life to worthwhile and charitable causes. I’ve also been a smoker for more than twenty years.
I tend to be courteous of others when it comes to my stupid and disgusting habit that brings me so much joy. I don’t smoke near people or children or smoke in enclosed areas. When I’m fighting for your freedoms and liberties in other countries, I tend to only smoke the brands available in those areas as American tobacco tends to have it’s own smell that carries far across the desert air. When I’m back home, I smoke American Spirit blue.
I’m not a Vegan, a hipster, or even a liberal. I’m an educated American who makes the choice, I’ve earned, to enjoy one of our rights as a citizen of this great country.
When I smoke an American Spirit, it tastes like freedom.

Devin Shaw

I’d love it if someone killed the author of this article, I smoke an American Spirit as I read this. I received a 2$ a pack coupon in the mail and they’re pretty damn good. Tastes like the cigarettes I used to MAKE myself with a machine and tubes. I wish people wouldn’t resent smokers so much, this person would rather be with her masogynistic girlfriend’s boyfriend who would probably strangle her in the woods than stand by a smoker who is minding his own fucking business. You make me sick and if we didn’t smoke, somebody’d have already killed you somehow. Don’t let one drunk bitch burning your apparel bum you out, do you own one fucking sweater or something? You bitching about it makes me wanna burn you again hah! It was an accident and you’re too shitty to forgive so you single out smoking as something that’s out to get you and everybody like you, fucking schizo! How bout don’t force people to be like you, Nazi? We don’t want you at the party anyway so smoking has some benefits by getting rid of you and the control freaks. Go to fucking New Hampshire or something.

Matt

Facts a little lacking. Lost most credibility when teaming was mis-spelled as “teeming.” Evidences a lack of thoroughness and makes it hard to accept your research.

Robert

Point 1) Millions of people who’ve never touched a
cigarette contract cancer every year, and hundreds of thousands die from it.
Millions of smokers (MANY of my own relatives included) live happily into
their 70’s and even 80’s w/o any of the major health problems supposedly linked
to smoking. My point? There’s a LOT more involved in the whole cancer
story than just who’s smoking what. IMO, it’s tied much more closely to
our typical American DIET then cigarettes.

Point 2) I’m 54 yrs old
and been smoking since I was sixteen. I still mountain bike 26 miles once a
week, ski, golf, kayak, hike, and walk 3 miles at least twice a week,
still cut my 1 acre yard with a push mower, and chop my own firewood by hand.
My point is NOT to brag, but to point out that a smoker’s overall health is
very much linked to their diet and amount of physical activity – just like any
non-smoker’s overall health. Lay around being fat and lazy most of your life,
and you ARE going to get SICK sooner or later. I can outperform MANY average
guys half my age who’ve NEVER touched a cigarette.

I have smoked American
Spirits organics for about 5 years now. I now roll my own to avoid the bullshit
flame retardant they’re spraying on all the paper now. They are a MUCH more
flavorful and fulfilling cigarette, and with that, I find myself actually
smoking much less (great for the $$). All of my food is organic and even my “microbrew”
beer…..which this author also seems to have some attitude about for some reason
(?).

Sure, smokers have had
some pretty bad health history in the past. But we are in a new generation of smokers.
Our parents and grandparents lived in a time when it was not all unusual to
smoke 2, or even 3 packs of those hardcore non-filter cigarettes a day! Abusing
just about ANYTHING to that extant will cause some sort of health issues. Hell,
even consuming too much water can cause harm!

Instead of whining like a little baby about the smell of cigarette
smoke….(even though we’ve all been banned from smoking ANYWHERE near
non-smokers), how about writing about a REAL threat like the Obesity epidemic?
In the very near future Obesity is going to make the health risks from smoking
look like child’s play. Of course there are plenty of small minded people (like
yourself) who will say “but someone’s obesity doesn’t affect me personally” I’d
point out that you are VERY wrong by a long shot. Most of the rising costs in
health insurance are immediately due to the long term devastating effects of obesity
and it’s plethora of chronic ailments. And it’s only going to get worse as our obese
population continues to grow, and age. WE ALL are, and will continue, to pay
all of those rising healthcare costs. That’s the way insurance works – costs are
spread among ALL insureds. What am I as a smoker contributing to escalating
healthcare costs? – a big fat whopping ZERO. I’ve NEVER had a healthcare claim
of any sort (other than my bi-annual doctor’s checkups). So go ahead, tell me
more about the horrific health hazards of my disgusting habits!

AldenWicker

Hi Robert,

To address a few of your points, because they seem to come up fairly often: 1. Smoking cigarettes makes you more likely to get cancer. Doesn’t mean you won’t get it, doesn’t mean you will. It just means you’re more likely to get it. 2. Cool. I think it’s awesome you chop your own wood and are physically active. You do these things not because of, but in spite of your smoking. But this post isn’t about being fat or lazy. 3. I love microbrews. I try to support small, craft brewers whenever I can, and avoid faux-brews like Blue Moon whenever I can identify them. 4. It sounds like you live out in the countryside. Many commenters here I assume live in the suburbs or countryside because they say, “just don’t be around us!” Living in the city, it is impossible to avoid cigarette smoke. I walk through four clouds of cigarette smoke just to get to the subway. Last night I had to tap a lady on the shoulder who was waving her cigarette around to politely ask her if I could walk past her–I was afraid that otherwise I would get an eye full of hot ash. I even had a neighbor who smoked on the hour every hour right below me, meaning I could not open my window ever, or else my room would smell like smoke. So, I can’t avoid smokers. As long as smokers exist, they are very much a part of my world. 5. Thank you for introducing this non-sequitur, like others have, that I will address. Obesity is a huge problem for the U.S, which costs us a lot of money. It’s caused my things like processed food, poor access to fresh produce, farm subsidies for corn and not for more well-rounded food, the agricultural lobby for beef, pork, dairy, etc, and poor personal choices. I worked to help end this by volunteering with Harlem for Change to raise awareness of the food desert up there. But I cannot address every societal ill in one article that costs the U.S. money (obesity, smoking, pharmaceutical dependence, drug addiction, high school drop out rates, lack of access to family planning, lack of health insurance coverage, etc. etc. etc.), so I’ll just focus on one thing at a time.

Solafein

maybe some people just like smoking american spirits because they like the taste. i would imagine that this is a strong possibility. most cigarettes do, after all, taste differently.

joah

My name joah . I never believe in any spell caster untill my lover treated me so bad, i never knew the reason why he was doing all that untill a friend of mine take me to a spell home which is Dr, ukwe the spell caster, and the dr told me that it was another female that cast a spell on my lover, and he sald he can revices the spell back to the sender.I never believe in him untill he finally did it and my lover came back to me with an apology that he never knew what he was doing. If you want him to help you bring your lover back, your husband and your ex, you can contact him with this email adress drukwe2demons@gmail.com.

Ash

I just read this whole post because I do smoke American Spirits, but FUCKING SHIT DO YOU EVER RE-READ BEFORE YOU POST THINGS??? I’m sorry, I mean it was a great article, very informative. But shit, if you want to be taken somewhat seriously learn the difference between “your” and “you’re”.

Greg Petliski

I smoke Spirit roll-your-owns (so no butt’s, which even when I did smoke filters, I would pocket and dispose of at home, every single time. Im a conservationist for petes sake!). I dont smoke Spirits for any of the reasons listed above, but because I can get em for the same price as Buglers when I buy the coffee-can sized tub of loose leaf. Hmm, Buglers or Spirits, what a decision!

Greg Petliski

Im a hitch hiker. One of the simplest joys I get is standing on the side of some lonely road, smoking a hand rolled cigarette. Im a respectful smoker, and dont enjoy smoking indoors at all, and it’d be nice if non-smokers would show some respect back too.

Chad

I’m pretty sure if you are walking/sitting and get a few whiffs maybe more of a cigarette you’re NOT going to get cancer from it, thats stupid, idiotic and childish to think so, if you live with someone who smokes inside and you dont smoke then yes you may get second hand….other than that your your ok….seriously.

KW

Facts only:
1. Cigarettes are toxic to everyone who encounters the smoke.
2. You have a right to do whatever you want with your body, legal or not, but smoking around people that can’t even get away from the toxins (children) is abusive, physically and often emotionally.
3. Smoking leaves toxins in your hair, skin, clothes, and your breath, that have an odor which is considered unpleasant to smokers. This, in essence leads smokers to smell as though they have put on smoke-scented cologne or perfume. The smoke is stronger than the perfume or cologne used to attempt to make oneself smell good.
4. It would be great if non-smokers could simply just stay way from people who smoke to avoid being around it, but it is not possible unless you don’t leave your home.
5. Making excuses as to why it is fine to subject others to smoke is an addictive thought process, which is a mental health problem.

Guest

Unfortunately there are no studies comparing the hazards of organic and corporate cigarettes. No studies comparing the hazards of cigarettes made with only tobacco to cigarettes made with reconstituted tobacco and combinations of the 599 commonly used additives. There are no studies comparing the hazards of flue cured tobacco and its high levels of tobacco specific nitrosamines with air cured tobacco and its lower levels of nitrosamines. There are no studies comparing the hazards of tobacco grown with typical superphosphate fertilizers that often contain radioactive polonium 210, lead 210, radon, uranium, and other radioactive components and anti-suckering agents, fungicides and other commonly used chemicals with organically grown tobacco. Why bother – it’s easier to vilify tobacco rather than bring attention to the fact that these fertilizers and chemicals are also used on food crops. Even so, I’ll stick to my home grown organic air cured tobacco. They tastes better, I don’t suffer from that ‘smoker’s cough’, and after years of smoking my own tobacco I feel better than I ever did smoking the corporate cigarettes. I can also blend different types of tobacco to create cigarette flavors that don’t exist in the commercial market.

tek wyzrd

Unfortunately there are no studies comparing the hazards of organic and
corporate cigarettes. No studies comparing the hazards of cigarettes
made with only tobacco to cigarettes made with reconstituted tobacco and
combinations of the 599 commonly used additives. There are no studies
comparing the hazards of flue cured tobacco and its high levels of
tobacco specific nitrosamines with air cured tobacco and its lower
levels of nitrosamines. There are no studies comparing the hazards of
tobacco grown with typical superphosphate fertilizers that often contain
radioactive polonium 210, lead 210, radon, uranium, and other
radioactive components and anti-suckering agents, fungicides and other
commonly used chemicals with organically grown tobacco. Why bother –
it’s easier to vilify tobacco rather than bring attention to the fact
that these fertilizers and chemicals are also used on food crops. Even
so, I’ll stick to my home grown organic air cured tobacco. It tastes
better, I don’t suffer from that ‘smoker’s cough’, and after years of
smoking my own tobacco I feel better than I ever did smoking the
corporate cigarettes. I can also blend different types of tobacco to
create cigarette flavors that don’t exist in the commercial market.

Leon

This was unnecessarily obnoxious, pretentious, and judgmental.
I had to scavenge very closely for any real facts or statistics. I just wanted an informative, factual account and I got an annoying, immature, childish bitch session about how much better you are than everyone else simply because you don’t smoke.
Try to leave your irrelevant, unwarranted opinions out of it next time and maybe you’ll be taken a little more seriously.

pam

I have been smoking AS for several years, but it seems here of late they are burning just as fast as all the other brands, and they do not seem to be packed as tight as the used to be, such a disappointment!

WagTheDawg

In Britain from 1991 to 1999, you could buy a similar “no additive” cigarette, but this one was call “Death” and had a black box with a big skull and crossbones on it. Very cool indeed!

cok boi on 300 souf side

Pussy faggot

st3vo

http://whyfiles.org/183smoking/2.html But the brand with the most free-base nicotine? The “Natural American Spirit” cigarette, marketed here
as “100% Chemical Additive-Free Tobacco.” American Spirit cigarettes
contain 36 percent free-base nicotine, compared with 9.6 percent in a
Marlboro, 2.7 percent in a Camel, and 6.2 percent in a Winston.

Andy Wolf

asdf Alden Wicker. Well Well. The person commenting 6 months ago is correct about your article being a personal ego trip, including no facts at all, and that it uses “hipster” as if it’s some sort of racial slur. Your article is tagged with “hipster”… wtf? I hate hipster doofuses.

But I still smoke AS cigs. 7$ a pack in PA btw.
-$7.00 in Pennsylvania. How much are your American Spirits?

Slowly Dying

Yes, smoking doesn’t do you any favors. So why do smokers buy these expensive smokes? Well, it’s not because they think they are healthy. It’s because they have a few benefits over standard fare. For one, the organic smokes are like the cigarettes your grandparents started smoking; before they started throwing in all the chemicals. They don’t have that artificial chemical taste of the standard, non-organic, designer brands. They don’t leave an aftertaste. They also don’t leave the same smell on your clothes the popular cheap brands do. You can smoke an american spirit outside, and most times the non-smokers in the office don’t even know you smoke. Now, this only applies to organics, which cost more than the regular american spirits. Probably the biggest benefit is how long the feeling lasts. You don’t chain smoke them, so a pack lasts longer. A two or three pack a day smoker will find they smoke a pack a day when they make the switch, so even though they cost more, they are cheaper in the long run.

They have a slightly different blend now since the company was taken over, sad really, since I could tell the difference. Smoking sucks, ask any smoker or ex-smoker. Unfortunately, it’s a tax income producing drug the government relies on and they are more addicted to this cash than any cigarette junky. State taxation varies between $0.17 to over $4 a pack with the tax making little discernible difference in the number of smokers. Why would it? It’s an addictive drug. Our legislators will never make it illegal as long as they make money off it, just make it appear they care for the non-smoking voters.

Ed

I enjoyed your article. I smoke, I am becoming increasingly disgusted with the nasty habbit. You made me laugh a few times, and there were some ‘new2me’ facts.

a very enjoyable read that I am gonna put on my facebook page

Guest

Your a assclown n speak shit. Smoking does make people look cool n i have alot of friends because i smoke. Its not a habbit its a talent and even make a starting runningback as a freshmen cus spirets gave me power n helped me breath. Shut the fuck up dude.

your mom smokes

Wow! Cool story bro. I havent read this one before. This reminds me of this one story i read called. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink.

J

I am a smoker trying to quit for sooooo long:( I’m still trying:( But the times I have gone a couple months. ….I do get it. I’m sorry u r uncomfortable with it. But imagine how most smokers feel. They know what ur saying. But addiction is hard! Why don’t u try saying a prayer or a good thought other than u wished they would quit? Cause I’m sure they r thinking the same thing….I wish I could quit:(

craig

I like the reference to Hain celestial being owned by Kraft. Kraft and Polly-O are owned by Phillip Morris, the largest cigarette company on earth. You’ll find if you try to boycott PM INC. You can barely find a meal in a super market

nico

I’m just surprised she fails to mention anything at all about the notion of addiction, especially considering her thoughtful research. Instead, the clearest message is a passionate investment in loathing tobacco users; simply put, there’s a reason people smoke in the first place. Everyone who picks up a smoke–not just a loner here and there–EVERY person who picks up a smoke and continues to do so shares something(s) in common with all other smokers. Perhaps that’s what you might consider researching, rather than completely attacking people who have a problem. I wonder does this writer tear people with eating disorders down? Cutters? People with Depression, OCD, Anxiety Disorders? Domestic violence or child abuse survivors?…because these are the people who make up the numbers of folks who seek a means of coping–surviving–in a cigarette, whether they are ready to admit that origin or not, and even knowing it is an unhealthy choice. Sometimes it’s the lesser of worse coping methods. Such firmly meritiocratic and deficit-based views of this issue are as insensitive as the people receiving the criticism. And the classist and elitist comments in there about low-income and low-education!! Wow! Had she left all of that seething, antiquated judgment out, the article would carry more credible research value.

jb

Keep Drinking the Kool-Aid Dude!

What a Liberal Douche.

dNS

I’m currently looking to american spirit as a healthier alternative.
It doesn’t mean i wanna stop smoking.
We all started this habbit knowing very well that it is unhealthy.
I think it is ridiculous that they don’t put a list of ingredients on tabacco.
Cause all these chemicals make it so much more deadly than it already is.

I heard some troubling things about american beer brands as well.
Apparently they don’t list all their ingredients either
Alcohol is also bad for you, but i guess you don’t do that right?
Cause you’re so fckn healthy ; p

Kim Martin

More on the crap in commercial cigarettes: Back around 1980, when NIH was doubling down on the dangers of tobacco, they discovered that the fertilizers used on commercial tobacco were carcinogenic when burned. But because tobacco was not a FOOD product, no regulations covered what kinds of fertilizers should be used. Let me say that again: carcinogenic when burned. Organic tobacco might or might not cause cancer, but we know for sure that commercial cigarettes do.

Peter

My question is about what does additive-free really mean, and organic grown, which I believe is important for smokers seeking a safer cigarette to understand about, and is also what the big tobacco companies dont want the smoker/consumer to understand is the process in which chemical additives are added to tobacco, is called Reconstituted Sheet Tobacco. This is the tobacco found in all commercial brand cigarettes, except those like american spirit that say on the label made from whole leaf tobacco and additive-free. RST, is the entire tobacco plant including stems and leaves, that is melted into a soup like liquid, which is then mixed with the however many chemical additives that are then added, then its dried into sheets and re-cut and ready to be used for cigarettes. Now that being said, most folks who think they are smoking an additive-free cigarette are only to a point. I do not believe additive-free, means grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Only tobacco grown organically would mean that its grown without fertilizers, pesticides and anything that farmers add to bring a more abundant and profitable crop. And not to mention that all commercially grown tobacco is now GMO, and may be the reason why american spirits have higher nicotine levels. Are you gonna trust RJ Reynolds who owns American Spirit, and you know they are known for deceptive advertising all for profit. So my intention here is to inform my fellow American Spirit smokers, and those who just want to smoke unaltered, chemical additive-free, naturally grown tobacco. And that american spirit cigarettes may still have elevated cancer causing risks due to the deceptive labeling and growing practices, under the guise of additive-free natural tobacco. People we are talking about RJ Reynolds, They would probably pay me to keep my mouth shut right now, and not talk about this. I would appreciate some comments to expand on this. Thanks

Billy Bob

i don’t smoke but this is incredibly biased and ultimately a poorly written piece of slander. Congrats!

Ray S.

I used to smoke Camel cigarettes, and as one poster commented, I used to cough up mucous every morning. I switched to American Spirits 15 years ago and now I only have a cough if In smoke over a pack a day for a few day and I never have any kind of cough. My family does seem to be incredibly risilient, though as my 82 year old uncle only recently quit smoking after 70 years and his doctors are amazed at his physical condition. Others might not be so lucky to have the fantastic DNA repair alleles that I do and that’s a shame. Bottom line: Is smoking dangerous? Absolutely. Addictive? Yes. Stinky? Yes. But there are many other things that are just as bad. Do I care about whether you are offended by how In smell? Not really. I can’t stand cologne, after shave, perfume, strongly scented deodorant, etc. It all makes me feel dizzy and it makes it hard to breath, also being a chemist I know that when I smell thesebscents I am inhaling just as many VOCs as when i smoke…. Perhaps I should start a campaign to ban cosmetic fragrances!?

Virginia

They aren’t saying light cigarettes are healthier, they are saying they are less addictive and the study showed that people who smoked lighter cigarettes smoked LESS than others. So while before the thought was there wasn’t a real difference and now we see that there is. If you want to taper off, switching to lights and then ultra lights might be a good option. http://www.cigarette-store.biz/

Mammy

A refugee would like to have your problems. Seriously. To be so overly occupied with your minute chance of catching a minute amount of annoyance on a dance floor just wreaks of looking for an excuse not to have fun. It’s not smoke that is dangerous – but the attitude that non smokers make us feel like social failures or diseased – and this snotty kind of ” you can’t quit. What are you weak in character?”
No. We just enjoy a smoke – regardless of brand. We are not banning your dislike of it or preventing you from asking me to put it out if it bothers you.
No.
So why get so up tight and unhappy about it. You could go work for the starving and after I do not think you would care about smoke much.
Really first world neurosis kiddo.

John

American Spirit is over-priced. Tobacco’s such as Maya or Pueblo (Polsch Tabak) offer the same “organic, no additives” guarantee but are lighter on the wallet. Neither are lighter on the lung, in fact all three are fairly punchy as far as tobacco goes. I’m coming to the end of a 18 year smoking career; I’ll be giving up when I’m 30 in April. The one thing that I’m sure will help me quit successfully is the smell of the freshly lit cigarette on the pavement, in the doorways, in the underground parties. The smokers who still smoke will give me just that tiny little hit of nicotine that part of every ex-smoker still wants (if they’re honest with themselves). You don’t get that with Vaping – the new fun healthy cool cheaper amazing life-changing way to…urrrrmm…be a fool. Smokers, happy smoking, non-smokers, happy smoke dodging, apologies for all the years of blowing smoke in your faces and burning holes in your threads.

http://www.freshmist.co.uk/ Dean Holmes

This is amazing . so it’s good for pregnant women &
so for all. please stop smoking for the upcoming child & also for own-self.
I am appreciated to visit this site. I
mean it is wonderful product. “These e-cigarettes are marketed in one way in
that if you want to smoke you can VAPE indoors,” Alexander told The Nation’s
Health. “You can beat the ban by smoking these e-cigarettes, that’s one
marketing tool.”

Electronic cigarettes — battery-powered devices that deliver
a fine spray of nicotine without any flame or VAPE — have been sold in this
country for about three years now. Some people use them as a way to quit
smoking real cigarettes. Unlike gum or patches, the devices mimic the sensation
of smoking while providing the nicotine rush. We pride ourselves completely on
our huge product range, wide scope selection of e-liquids and
our customer service. We focus solely on providing the BEST products on the
market coupled with both industry experts and a fantastic aftercare service.

man, i really liked this. i keep doing research on American Spirits because its my cig of choice……however i quit 10 days ago as i cant get this lingering heavy feeling of guilt out of my mind, having my kids crying at my funeral for not stopping…so i stopped. 15 years of American Spirit down the drain. i myself am a stinky vegan, not a hippie by any means, just a vegan..health nut person. i dont like animals much, but the thought of eating another things body has always made me gag. so….i keep looking for science studies..articles, health mags, to tell me the research has been done. i wont die from the American Spirit. and i can have my old friend again with only the guilt of stink. then i think how good i smell, and give up justifying smoking again until the next eve comes when i am worn down, miss myself, and my oral fixation..thanks for this good read.

jeb

I made it nearly 3 paragraphs before I decided the author wad a massive cunt.

billy

I wish the author would start smoking- so he would get cancer and die. Would have saved me several minutes of my apparently short life

One less pretentious bastard

heartbell

I do smoke and cheap ones that are probably the worst. It is nice to know that studies have shown it does not cause lung cancer, but it does cause copd-emph and bronch rolled into one. Smoking is a stress reliever for me, but it also the stress of not being able to quit because my dad and mother both had copd is hard too…..btw I think I will try these Spirits!

Ironton

I’ve been smoking American Spirits since 1999. Long before I had ever heard the word hipster. I don’t fit either category described above. They taste better to me than any other cigarette I have ever tried (except maybe shepherd’s hotel). I smoke about 7-10 cigarettes a day and am in the process of cutting back to quit. It’s only slightly annoying that these have become a hipster touchstone. I like them and have liked them since long before they were ironically cool. Is there anything wrong with liking something just because you do, no attachments or statements implied?

Codi

i was hoping to find an answer by reading this article, but it sort of told me what I already know… “they’re ‘kinda’ better because they don’t have additives.” i don’t fault the author too much because there probably isn’t too much research out there predicated on american spirit smoker health versus conventional cigarette smoker health. tho it would be very interesting to see how significant of a role the additives play in causing harm. i will say that from personal experience… call it ‘placebo’ if you must… whenever i smoke a marlboro, my throat feels wrecked the following day, whereas when i smoke a spirit, this doesn’t happen.

Svetla

Cancer is caused from all the chemicals in food, water, air, medicine – everywhere
you can think.
Smoking cigarettes is nothing compare to all of the above
What they say about children’s cancer which is growing rapidly
It is a shame that they are trying to full us
I feel discriminated and offended

David Prothro

I meet very few people who care who they hurt, and the comments here are no exception. Humanity and the world would be better, if cigarettes didn’t exist, but were are a selfish, self centered, rebellious organism.

Shaggy

Wow. What a very bias article. You dont like to smoke then dont, but please dont speak of flavor and bash people for enjoying a much better cigarette. Yoou know nothing about such things. You dont like to smoke? dont. But dont try to force your habbits of not smoking on those that freely chose to.

Shaggy

I sure hope you realize how inaccurate your article is. The chemicals in cigarettes are responsible for most of the health problems and NOT the tobacco. learn something.

Amy Lee

“Smoking is over. It is a tattered remnant of an earlier era…”

I am going to assume that by saying this, you were referring to the early-to-mid twentieth century. Actually, smoking tobacco goes back thousands of years… a good example would be my ancestors, Native Americans. Now, technically they were from “an earlier era,” but I just wanted to point this out… they didn’t and still don’t do it because it is or was a part of pop culture. It is and was simply a part of THEIR culture… it is a shame the the actions of so many have such an effect, so much so that non smokers simply cannot stand smokers.

I also want to point out that if you were just writing this article to rant, well good job. If you were really trying to help someone, next time dont mention your “$4 beer” addiction. It is a bit hypocritical to bash grown adulta for putting potentially harmful substances in their bodies when you do the same thing every weekend, only not with tobacco but with alcohol.

I am not trying to offend you, but get you to see it from a different perspective.

Tincan

I am smoker life blows for me but I don’t like smoking over it IVE smoked 10 years and feel the effects now and I realize now that when I die smoking will be a main cause… And knowing that and I keep smoking terrifys me I need serious help but YA 24 depressed suicidal since 16 but I’d still rather not die because of death sticks. Well put referance

prairiewalker

I am a smoker, and a highly polite one at that – I go to the back loading dock vs. standing in front of the building, I don’t smoke in MY car with non-smokers, always make sure to walk downwind from friends etc. etc. I try to be acutely aware of those around me and to NOT inflict my habit on others.

But, with that said, I am really fed up with the complaining about the smell. Take elevators for example. Its not just a smokers reek that pollutes our air space. What about the endless, gagging varieties of perfume & aftershave one has to endure? What of those who are deodorant adverse or haven’t washed their reeking hair for a month? Do you (somewhat self-righteous) non-smokers go up to these folks and complain that you have to smell THEIR bad smell? No. But smokers are fair game to be harangued by anybody & everybody who has an opinion against this nasty addiction.

asdf

I truly think that you are full of shit.

asdf

And I don’t smoke.

In search of a safer cig

This was very helpful I was told this would help me quit. Although they are better than smoking a strong Newport I will not give up the fight to beat cigarettes all together. There is no safe cigarette.

AS Smoker

Fuck off

Jones

no doubt you support pot being legalized.

Jesse James

I really dislike when im at a party and im surrounded by mindless, sloshed zombies, going about their debauchery without a shred of common courtesy or goodwill. Cigarette smoke doesn’t bother me too much.

CarbonaNotGlue

Freedom is more important than health.

LeeDoggie

The “chemical rings” are magnesium to make it burn, the plastic they spray on is what makes it a FSC. Fuck all that shit, Peter Stokkebye is the last bastion of quality cigarettes. Once they go down, I will quit, but they are from Denmark so if they add 599 chemicals, you can’t taste them like you can in American Spirits.

john o’neal

Really good article, but though additive free, it is not genuine native american tobacco, which is one of the first and most genetically manipulated crops known to man.
Just one more reason why it’s all a scam. Here is an actual useful link RE; native American tobacco. Real native American tobacco is smoked in relatively tiny amounts, and one bowl a day is generally enough for hard core long term smokers to ween themselves away from it.
My cousin was chronically addicted to Kool menthol cigarettes, and when all else failed, took this suggestion and used it to quit, twenty five years ago. Still happily smoke free today, and no longer feeling like a hypocrite for managing a health food store.http://archive.tobacco.org/Misc/tnat.html

David C.

Hmm. You seem kind of bitter. Cigarette smokers are the epicenter neither of all uncoolness in the world nor all inconsiderateness. Yes those folks on the dance floors who do that crap are assholes but that’s because they’re assholes not because they’re smokers. But thanks for the info on American spirits–that was useful.

tmase

Love the article, I started smoking american spirits because I couldn’t quit smoking and yet it still feels incredibly unhealthy. Just because american spirit is natural doesn’t mean your not still breathing in smoke and chemicals. Whenever I get the urge to buy a pack I tell myself “does it feel good to stand over I fire and breath there for 5 minutes? No, than why buy cigarettes? I’m not a hipster but do agree most hipsters smoke this brand. It was actually a hipster friend that showed me this brand in the first place haha.

Karma Police

Great article. Been smoking American Spirits for 15 years, and just extinguished my last one. Found your article for support. Thanks. I messed up by giving them my address a long time ago for three free packs or something. Thy send me propaganda quarterly, at least. They send birthday cards, free stuff, key chains, all kinds of schwaag to ensure you’re their slave for life. I wish I never gave them my info. But I quit. I’ve been paying for a chemical imbalance in my hipster head forever, and it’s the reason my bicycles collect dust and my SLOTH has taken over. Ewww, I really need to take this seriously.

Bree

Actually, blogging is over; blogging is a tattered remnant of an earlier era.

Your judgmental take on the personal choice issue of smoking, coupled with your overarching hubris, makes this article (and, in turn, your blog) a sensational disaster. You have to call yourself ‘editor-in-chief’ because there is no way any reputable, self-respecting media outlet would afford you that title. Throwing in pseudo empirical data that postulates a correlation between smokers and their socio-economic status serves only to alienate readers. No, wait, it also makes you sound like a dumb ass.

My favourite part of your post “What really sucks is that I have friends–all party people–who smoke. In every other way, they are authentic, smart, and kind people.” I can imagine your ‘friends’ were ecstatic to read your public revelation.
About as ecstatic they must be every time you turn up to a warehouse party seething with disapproval. If you want to party in clean air then stop being so frugal and go to a fully licensed, legal premise with enforceable smoking prohibitions.

Buried deep within the mire of your obtuse writing lie, possibly, some points worthy of investigating; the dichotomy in the perceptions of smokers and their non-smoking counterparts in postmodern NYC would have been a great anecdotal read, and may have been enlightening for all parties, but your disparaging commentary is so off the mark it’s not worth reading past your opening, whiny rant.